


Agent Bromanov

by p_unkmock



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alcohol, All boy's school, Alternate Universe - High School, Attempt at humour, Brokeback mountain - Freeform, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Brucey, Bucky being hot af, Butt Kissing, Captain - Freeform, Clint being moody, Cute, Cute Hair Stroking, Cute Stucky, F/M, Fluff, God dammit geography coursework, Grant Ward - Freeform, Homophobic Language, Humour, Just please imagine Clint dressed as a teenage mutant ninja turtle go on, Kid - Freeform, Love Is for Children, M/M, Made in America, Master Plan, Natasha Is a Good Bro, Physics, Protective Natasha, SHIELD, Sad Clint, Sassy Coulson, Sassy Natasha, School, Self-Harm, Steve and Clint being bros, Steve being a cutie, Steve being cute af, Tasha - Freeform, Teacher!Bucky, The Breakfast Club - Freeform, The Conjuring 2 - Freeform, The Dick Brick, Thor - Freeform, Truth or Dare, Violence, blushing Steve, blushing clint, blushing!Natasha, bruce being a sneaky lil shit, cinema, clint being protective af, cute group hugs, first proper clintasha moment youre welcome, gay kisses, it probably wouldnt be as smooth as steves tbh, maybe you should kiss my ass, name guessing, nat has no idea what's going on, popular!Thor, rooftop talks, soldiers dont abandon their captain, steves smooth ass, tony being a cocky lil shit, tony being protective af, you didn't see that coming?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2016-07-06
Packaged: 2018-03-15 19:46:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 30,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3459659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/p_unkmock/pseuds/p_unkmock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha always knew that she wasn't going to be the girliest of girls, but disguising herself as a boy? That's a different game. When she joins Shield Academy, an all boys school, she'll do anything to keep her cover. So, maybe befriending Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner and Clint Barton wasn't the smartest idea...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. You're one of us now, kid

“It can’t be _that_ hard, right?” Natasha said to herself as she fixed her cap on her head, a few jagged locks of fiery hair sticking out the sides. She hastily reached up to tuck them in, almost dropping her books she was holding with the other hand. “Deep breath, Romanov. No one’s going to notice.”

 

The school bell went off, signalling the start of the school day, and Natasha rushed through the closing double doors. She was at the reception room now, a chocolate haired lady chewing pink coloured gum. Nat had to cough to get her attention.

“Excuse me?” The woman flicked her eyes to look at the red head. Her eyes were the same shade of brown as her hair. She popped her gum before speaking.

“So you’re the new boy then?” Some of the gum stuck to her lipstick smudged lips.

“Um, yeah.” Nat said, tucking in a few more hairs that had come loose. The woman stood up and starts fingering through a pile of paper.

“Name?” _Oh shit_ , Nat thought. She hadn’t thought about a name.

Stephen? No, too posh.

Bruce? Nope.

Tony? Definitely not that.

“You forgot your name or what kid?” The woman popped her gum again.

She panicked.

"Uh Nate. It's Nate" The woman didn't seem to notice Nat's uneasiness and carried on flicking through the papers.

Nate? Really? Of all the names you could have chosen Romanoff you pick Nate. Great.

"Here you go" the woman handed Natasha a slightly creased piece of paper. "This is a timetable, all the rooms are labelled so you shouldn't get lost."

Nat went to say thanks but a phone rang and the woman picked it up and started talking. Natasha stood there for a while before the woman shooed her away, gesturing towards the door.

Well this is going to be fun.

Natasha looked down at her timetable.

 

_Monday (Week A) Maths in M3_

 

 _How am I supposed to find 'M3' without a map?_ She tried to get the attention of the hundreds of boys rushing past her. Some were throwing water at each other, laughing and cursing. Others seemed to stick to each other like glue, holding onto their books for dear life.All the teachers seemed to be male too. Most of them she saw were trying to take the water bottles off the boys throwing them. One teacher had his back against the wall, one of his legs rested on the cracked paint. He held a Starbucks coffee cup in one hand and a slim briefcase in the other. Nat tried to get his attention but he seemed more interested in his hot beverage to notice anything else.

"Um, do you know where I can find M3 sir?" She went to tap his shoulder, but hesitated and dropped her hand by her side.

"Go out this building and take a right. It's the building with a massive calculator painted on it. All the rooms are labelled so you'll find it." The man didn't make eye contact with Natasha at all. He was watching the boys who were fighting over water and for a moment, Nat thought she saw the corners of his mouth curve.

"Uh, okay" Nat said awkwardly, taking another look at her timetable. "Thanks."

 

The maths building was the smallest building in the school with only four classrooms, whereas the others all had at least six. M3 was the second to last room in the corridor. Nat peek into the door window of the classroom opposite, M4, but saw no teacher. Almost all of the boys were standing on chairs, their navy coloured ties wrapped around their heads. The ones who weren't standing on chairs, playing throw and catch with footballs were hiding behind the tables in the brace position.

 _Well I guess it could be worse_ , she thought before opening the door into M3.

 

Natasha was pretty sure the teacher was sleeping. He had his chin resting in palm, but his eyes were closed and Nat could have sworn she saw some drool coming from the grey haired man. The classroom was separated into four tables, but only one seemed to have kids who were actually doing some work, as well as wearing their ties properly. Nat consciously loosened hers.

They were definitely not going to be her people.

Another table placed nearest to the door consisted of five boys. They all had brown hair apart from one seated at the head. His was sandy coloured, just brushing his shoulders. He used a thin hair band to push back his hair from his stubble-covered face. Everyone else on the table was looking towards the blond, each of them trying to grab his attention, and he seemed to love it.

The third table was smaller than the others; Nat reckoned it would only be able to hold four people. However, only one boy sat there, but Natasha got the hint that he wasn’t the ‘here take a seat next to me’ type.

Then there was the fourth table.

Three guys were seated there, two on one side and one on the other. They all looked about Natasha’s age, sixteen. The boy sitting on his own side had vanilla coloured hair. Nat wasn’t sure if he was slouched or if he really was that small. Opposite him were two taller boys, both with almost matching auburn hair. The boy with the slightly lighter and wavier hair wore a jumper over his white shirt, giving the boy to his right a disapproving look. The other boy’s hair was straight and Nat could see that he used hair gel to keep it standing up and slick. His tie was so lose she thought it looked more like a necklace. He was tearing up pieces of paper and rolling them up into tubes. Natasha went over to their table and sat herself down on the blond haired boy’s side, with one seat in between them. The straight haired boy seemed to be the only who hadn’t noticed her.

“Now boys, this is how our good friends the Americans entertain themselves in class. Who wants to spit on this ball of paper for me?” He opened his mouth to say something else as he turned towards the wavy haired boy, but stopped himself as he followed his friend’s gaze. The three of them all stared at her silence for a moment. Natasha could feel their gaze on her, but she carried on unpacking her bag and placing her pencil case on the desk. Then she put her black studded backpack on the floor and turned to face the boys who were still staring at her.

“What are you three looking at?” She said, crossing her legs.

“Oh my god.” The straight haired boy said rising from his chair. “HE’S SO CUTE!” The others boys sighed simultaneously.The straight haired boy moved to the spare seat next to Nat. “OKAY, OKAY. FROM NOW ON YOUR ARE IN OUR GROUP AND WE ARE ALL GOING TO BE BEST FRIENDS.” He sounded like an excited little three year old.

 _Well that was fast_ , Nat thought.

Although these boys might not have been her first choice in friendship groups, I guess they didn’t seem that bad.

“The names Tony Stark, but you probably already knew that.” Nat _had_ heard of the name Stark before, but didn’t want to give me that satisfaction.

“No actually I didn’t.” She couldn't help but smirk after she spoke. Tony seemed to have ignored her reply and turned to the other two boys.

“Come on guys, introduce yourselves to our new bezzie.”

“Do _not_ call me _bezzie_.”

“HE JUST GETS CUTER AND CUTER!” Tony was practically bouncing in his seat.

“I’m Steve.” The blond haired boy spoke first, reaching out his hand for Nat to shake. She took it.

“I’m Nate.” She wanted to change that name so badly, but she thought it would be better to stay safe and don’t go changing it every time she met someone new.

“Come on, Cap. We’ve got to be cool and hip for our new bestie Nate here.” Tony said, resting an arm around the back of Nat’s chair. She shuffled forwards in annoyance. “No one shakes hands anymore.”

“Maybe I’m just a bit old fashioned.” The fair-haired boy smirking and her crossed his arms leaning back into his chair.

“Cap?” Nat asked confused on why Tony called Steve that.

“Tony likes to think he’s the leader of the group and therefore insists we all have nicknames.” The wavy-haired boy said, having now moved to sit opposite Nat. He had thick rimmed glasses perched on his nose, his hair a lighter shade, but still darker than Steve’s.

"Oh come on, Bruce. You couldn’t last a day without me, I’m essential." Tony made an exaggerated wink at the blue-eyed boy who was rolling is eyes behind his smudged glasses.

"Steve's is Captain for some reason." Bruce continued, Steve making a salute at the mention of his name. "Although, it's only Tony who actually uses the nicknames."

"What does he call you?" Nat asked, slowing picking up her pencil-case to put it back in her bag. There was no point in making an effort to do any work in this lesson.

"Thankfully, I have dodged that scenario as of yet." Bruce said. "Stark's just got his head too far up his own arse to admit he hasn't thought of a substantial nickname for me so he has resulted in calling me-"

"Brucey!" Tony interrupted, pointing at the now waking up teacher towards the front of the classroom.

"Resume positions team." Steve said tugging Tony's arm trying to get him back in his original seat. The teacher opened one bloodshot eye and Nat could have sworn she saw it twitch a little. He shot up like he had just sat on a sharp pencil, which he probably had. The whole class fell silent, even the table who were laughing at the boy with blond stubble. The teacher picked something up from his chair and held it up for the whole class to see.

It was a sharpened pencil.

Immediately, Tony Stark burst out laughing. No one seemed to be joining in. It was like watching a tennis match, a sea of heads switching between the teacher’s ‘I’m going to slap a bitch’ face and Tony’s ‘this is hilarious but please don’t hurt my beautiful face’ one.

“Tony Stark” The teacher called, stabbing the pencil into his desk.

“Mr Selvig” Tony replied, getting up and bowing in front of the class.

Bruce flashed a look at Steve, but the smaller boy didn’t look like he could keep a serious face much longer and giggled far louder than he expected. Bruce was kicking his friend’s legs, but that just seemed to make him laugh even harder. Nat found it hard to suppress a smirk as well.

“That’s it!” Mr Selvig shouted as he slammed his hand on his desk. “You four,” he pointed to their table, “lunchtime detention.”

By now Steve had stopped laughing and Bruce looked like a red angry balloon about to pop. Tony opened his mouth to say something else, but was stopped by a hand pulling him back into his chair. 

"Thanks for that, Stark.” Bruce said, opening his maths book. Tony ignored his friend and turned to Nat.

“Looks like you’re one of us now, kid.”


	2. The Dick Brick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geography coursework, detention and chewing gum

Shield Academy was the type of school that had at least ten kids in detention every lunchtime and by now, the teachers gave up with trying to control them and normally just left them in the room for the thirty minutes while they went to the staff room to probably deliberately pour boiling hot coffee over them. During the whole way to detention, Tony was exclaiming how this had been his 10th one this month, making it one a day. Although, that didn’t mean he had attended all of them. Due to the growing number of detentions the school were giving out, a room for locking up kids was specifically built. It was located in the smallest building in the school, the only decoration being a huge metal ‘D’ stuck on the wall, along with plenty of spray-painted penises. Next to the door, three words were spray-painted in red:

 

 

_The Dick Brick_

 

“Dick Brick?” Nat asked, as her, Tony, Bruce and Steve stopped at the iron door to the building.

“It’s what everyone calls the detention building.” Bruce said; a tinge of annoyance could be herd in his voice. “The teacher tried to get the paint off, but it’s managed to stay.”

“It looks pretty empty today.” Steve mumbled, his face squished against the window, looking into the one-roomed building. The other three followed suit and looked in.

“Oh no.” Bruce broke away from the window as he started massaging the sides of his head.

“What?” Nat was confused. When she looked in she saw no one else in the room apart from one mini catapult position on the far right desk.

“Barton’s here.” Bruce moaned. “Which means we are in for half an hour of Tony taking the piss out of him and not stopping.” He threw his arms in the air. “Just when I thought I could get at least twenty minutes of solitude.”

“There is never solitude with Tony.” Added Steve, giggling like a little girl. Nat moved closer to Bruce.

“Isn’t this the part when Tony goes on about how calming and full of tranquillity he is?” Tony still had his face pressed up against the glass, staring at the small catapult.

“He’s just counting all the snarky remarks he can make.” Bruce whispered back.

“Coulson’s coming!” At the sound of Steve’s warning, Tony moved away from the glass, pushing Bruce behind him as he ducked. Nat peered over Bruce’s shoulder to get a look at the teacher approaching the door from the inside.

His suit was ordinary, as well as his tie choice and haircut. Natasha couldn’t see why he caused such a reaction. Steve bunched up next to her and she gave him a confused look.

“Mr Coulson is our Geography teacher and our coursework was supposed to be handed in a month ago.” The small boy muttered, keeping his blue eyes fixed on the door. “And Tony hasn’t even started it.”

The four watched the door as its handle turned, revealing Coulson on the other side.

“Mr Stark.” Immediately the man’s eyes flicked towards Tony’s peeping head behind Bruce. He moved away from his friend and stood in front of the teacher.

“Phillip.” He bowed his head in complete seriousness, but Nat could see a slight smirk form as he stared at the floor.

“Looks like I’ll be seeing you tomorrow lunch then as well, then maybe you can begin you late coursework.” He stepped aside from the door, sticking out his hand to usher the four of them in. “ _Anthony_.” He said, as he locked the door from the outside, gave a smirk of his own, and left.

 

* * *

 

 

 

“What a prick.” Exclaimed Tony, moving towards the front desk, sitting on it.

“Maybe if you had done your coursework…”

“Oh shut up Bruce, just because you’re his little swat.” Tony crossed his arms over his chest, pulling a sulky face.

The room was smaller than Nat expected, for being the only one in the building. It managed to house five rows of three chairs, one window and a front desk. The walls were plastered with multiple posters of school rules, but judging by the excess amount of graffiti, no one really cared. Steve and Bruce took a seat in the first two desks in the first row facing Tony on the front, Steve patting a seat on the desk next to him for Nat.

“So do we just sit here for thirty minutes?” She asked.

“Well, yeah.” Steve shrugged.

“You have been in a detention before, right kid?” Tony leaned in.

The only school Nat had been to before Shield was home. She did all her schoolwork online and when she didn’t hand in homework on time, she just got a reminder e-mail. Online detentions weren’t really a thing.

Just as she was about to reply, a piece of chewing gum flew across the room. It looked like a big sticky pink ball of goo, shooting past Tony, just missing his hair by a centimetre.

“WHO,” the boy’s eyes widened in utter shock and horror, “DARES TARGET STICKY SUBSTANCES TOWARDS TONY STARK.” Tony jumped off the desk, flipping out a compact mirror to check his hair.

Steve and Bruce remained silent, but both their heads shot up to the top right corner of the room. Natasha followed their gaze and saw what they were staring at. There was a figure perched on a small piece of wood connecting the two adjacent walls, Nat couldn’t make out it’s features, but saw an outline of a small catapult in its hand.

“BARTON GET DOWN HERE NOW.” Tony sulked, crossing his arms.

The figure swiftly jumped from the ceiling onto the floor, and into the light. The boy looked about sixteen, the same year as the others. His hair was blond, but darker than Steve’s and stuck up straight like Tony’s. The only uniform clothes he seemed to be wearing were a shirt and tie; everything else was leather: pants, jacket, boots and all. His right hand held the catapult firmly and Nat moved her gaze towards the boy’s face. The skin was tanned, but not orange and Nat could see small curves forming at the side of his mouth.

“Your highness.” He bowed mockingly at Tony who was still checking his perfect hair for gum.

“You should respect your king, Barton.” Tony snapped his mirror shut, placing his hands on his hips.

“Well I say fuck the king.” The boy replied, flipping Tony off.

“You’re watching too much Game of Thrones, Clint.” Bruce interjected, pushing his glasses up towards his nose. The boy- Clint- shrugged, then gesturing towards Nat.

“Who’s the new girl?” Nat immediately froze and she could feel way too much blood rushing to her cheeks. It’s the way he said it so casually. Was this not the first time a girl had sneaked into this all boy’s school? _Well shit_ , she thought, _at least now i can admit he's hot_. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished the second chapter! I didn't want to wait too long before the boys find out about Nat being a girl because ive got some really funny ideas that i want to include soon! As always comments and kudos are very much appreciated. Thanks for reading! :0)


	3. She's a Guy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> guessing games, blushing Steve and first clintasha moment

The room was silent for far too long than Nat deemed comfortable and looked to Steve for a way out. However, when she tried to give him any kind of signal all she was returned with was an exaggerated jaw drop.

“Clinton-” Tony began.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Barton.” Tony surprisingly seemed completely relaxed about the situation. “I know it must be hard with all of those raging hormones-”

“Tony, I’m only a month younger.”

“That you may become confused on what is real and such.” Tony jumped off the main desk and began to pace. Clint had given up interrupting him. “Our dear new friend Crate-”

“Nate,” it was Steve’s turn to interrupt. Nat glared in his direction as if to say _so now you say something?_

“Yes of course, Nate! He is most clearly a human of the male variety.”

Clint waited a few seconds before replying, making sure Tony was finished.

“Guys, come on!” The blond pleaded, “It’s obvious she’s a dude.”

“So you _are_ saying he’s a guy?” Tony questioned.

“No, I’m saying she’s a guy.” Clint moaned.

Steve shot his hand up as if answering a maths question.

“Okay, I’m confused.”

Bruce stepped forward into the middle of the circle the others had formed.

“I believe what Barton is trying to say is that genetically speaking our new friend ‘Nate’ here is a female, but at this current time she is impersonating a male.” The boy pushed up his glasses.

“Um, yeah,” Clint mumbled, clearly confused by Bruce’s explanation. “What he said.”  

Tony moved towards Nat and she found her heart pounding faster.

“If you guys won’t believe me maybe you’ll believe Nate.” His hand reached for Natasha’s hat, but before he could even touch it, he felt a shooting pain in his shin.

“Shit dude!” Tony immediately fell to the floor, clutching his leg. Steve rushed for him, placing Tony’s head in his lap.

“Tony! Are you okay?” He began to shake the boy’s head.

“He’s fine Steve, Nate here just did what someone should have done to Tony a long time ago.” Bruce said, slyly winking at Nat.

“You do not know the joy it is giving me right now to see Stark rolling on the floor crying like a baby.” Clint laughed, smiling mocking at his sulking friend on the floor, but Steve had disappeared from his side.

“Where’s Stev-” Nat began, before she felt a small hand behind his take her cap off her head.

A trailing of bouncing garnet curls exploded from Natasha’s head and she quickly tried to push some of the hair forward to cover her reddening cheeks.

Steve moving from behind her, his child-like smirk quickly fading into a wide-eyed stare. Bruce pushed his glasses up so far Nat thought the lenses were going to be sucked in by his eyes. Tony immediately shot up to a standing positing, trying is best to cover his exaggerated limp.

“See guys I told you!” Nat could hear Tony voice shake a little. “You boys are so blind how could you not see our friend _Nancy_ here is a ravishing woman?”

“ _Nancy?_ _Really?_ ” Nat pushed her hair back as she felt her cheeks getting cooler, allowing the boys to see her face.

“What is your real name then?” Bruce asked.

“No! Brucey!” Tony exclaimed, moving forward to examine Nat. “We must guess!”

Bruce sighed heavily, rolling his eyes and moved to sit at the main desk.

“Nadia?” Steve suggested, jumping up to sit on one of the desks.

“Nope.” Nat replied, her arm crossing. She was enjoying this.

“Naomi?” Tony added, a smile spreading across his face thinking he was correct.

“Nope.”

“Natasha.” Clint spoke from the side of the room, leaning against the window. He didn’t smirk, just stared at Nat.

“Correct.” Nat almost choked on the word. The room became silent again.

“Well, I was going to say that anyway.” Tony said, moving to elbow Clint, noticing the smirk on the blond’s face.

“Guys,” Bruce said looked at his watch, “lunchtime’s over.”

“And we’re all in the same class next! Perfect.” A smug look spread across Tony’s face and he made way for the door remembering that it automatically unlocked itself after thirty minutes. The spikey haired boy looked back at his friends. “Coming them? Steve can’t miss his _favourite_ lesson.” He winked.

It was Steve’s turn for his cheeks to go pink. Bruce followed Tony out the door, along with a blushing Steve behind.

“Clint? Natasha? You coming?” The sandy-haired boy’s eyes brightened like a child’s.

“Just gimmie a sec” Clint called back.

He turned to Natasha.

“What is it?” She asked.

“You can’t go to class looking like…” Clint let his eyes wonder to Nat’s soft scarlet hair resting on her shoulders, her eyes sparkling like topaz gems. He shook himself back into focus. “Still looking like a girl.”

Nat watched him pick up her blue cap, the outline of an arrow sewn on the front.

“Nice cap.” He said as he placed it on her head, carefully stroking back her fiery locks and tucking them into the hat. “Come on,” he moved away and walked towards the door, “best not be late, otherwise we’ll be stuck at the front.” He smiled a goofy smile, with teeth and all and rushed out the door, Nat running after him. _Maybe I did make the right choice_ , she thought.      

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! It feels like ages since i posted chapter 2 and i apologise that this chapter isn't as long as the others but i just really liked the way it ended. I am super excited to start chapter 4 because you guys will see why Steve is blushing (see if you can guess in the comments wink wink) Feedback is alway appreciated as well as other comments and kudos! I hope whoever is reading is enjoying the fic so far and please tell me if you want to read more as well as any suggestions you have that would be extra rad! Thank you!!!


	4. The Physics Lesson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a physics lesson and tony's bad hygiene

“So he always wears the eye-patch?” Natasha whispered to Bruce who was scribbling in his exercise book as the teacher spoke in the background.

He replied with a low, “uh huh”, and pushed up his glasses.

Nat and boys manage to secure the majority of the back row of the classroom, with the help of Clint aiming catapults at the previous seat owners’ heads.

“Do you think there’s an eye under there?” Nat asked, resting her chin in her palm, the other hand tracing patterns on the desk.

“I don’t know, ask Stark.” Bruce mumbled, keeping his eyes fixed on his writing.

Tony was sat one seat from the end of the row, a boy Nat recognised from Maths who was sat on his own table before. Now, Tony was leaning into him, whispering something intently in the black haired boy’s ear that made them both giggle suspiciously.

Clint was seated on the other side of Tony, leaning back in his chair, his muddy boots resting on the edge of the table. He had tried to get the seat beside Nat, but an excited and still blushing Steve quickly stole it.

The small blond boy shrunk in his seat next to Nat, his blue eyes staring. She followed his eye-line to a figure standing at the front on the room, leaning against the door, his face in the shadow.

“Who’s that?” Nat nudged Steve noticing a smile creep across the boy’s face.

“That’s Mr Rogers’ boyfriend” Bruce added quickly, before dropping his head to continue writing.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Steve replied defensively, his cheeks quickly getting redder as the teacher sent the class to compete some questions about radioactivity on the white board.

“And remember we have Mr Barnes here if anyone gets stuck.” Mr Fury added, readjusting his eye patch to answer a question from someone who put their hand up at the front. The figure emerged and strolled casually to the back of the room towards the group. Nat guessed he looked about eighteen, a light stubble shadowing his chiselled jaw line. He certainly didn’t look like a teaching assistant, wearing black skinny jeans and a Nirvana t-shirt. As he approached, Nat noticed his hair was almost the same style as Steve’s, but messier and dark choclate brown.

“You guys need any help?” He leaned on the desk space in front of Steve, looking around at the rest of the group before slipping in a wink at Steve.

Tony had now stopped his conversation with whoever he was next to and leant into the group, squishing an annoyed Clint into a furiously blushing Steve.

“Look’s like Captain’s going to explode any time now.” Tony said a little louder than Steve would have liked and he nudged Clint who hit Tony round the head.

“Actually I was wondering if you could check my answers for the questions.” Bruce added, looking up from his work.

“Brucey, what _are_ you doing?” Tony dramatically put his hand on his heart, or tried to since it was on the wrong side.

“I’m doing the work.” Bruce replied matter-of-factly, “someone’s got to do it so the rest of you kids have someone to copy from.

“Sure Bruce.” Mr Barnes said, and walked over to Bruce before adding another wink at Steve. He walked around the back of the desks and as he passed the back of Steve’s seat, the small boy straightened up suddenly then slowly began to duck his head.

“Don’t you just love Physics?” Tony said, leaning back into his chair again, mimicking Clint who immediately leaned forward and sat normally on his stool.

 

* * *

 

After physics, the boys headed to the tallest building in the school, Tony telling Nat useless facts as they passed the other buildings.

“And _that_ is where Steve almost peed himself.” He said, pointing to a shaded corner of a building with a plastic book stuck on the front.

“That was just because you made me drink three two litre bottles of red bull then trapped me in a bully circle!” The small boy crossed his arms childishly and marched ahead to walk next to Bruce.

“That’s what you got when you were the first to turn sixteen in _this_ group.” Bruce looked up from his phone at Steve.

“Bucky sure is a lucky boy.” Tony said, throwing himself into the side of Steve who wobbled a little before sloppily putting his lanky arm round his neck.

“Bucky?” Nat asked, nudging Clint next to her.

“Uh…” Clint began, “well you’ll find out soon anyways.” He let out a breathy laugh.

 

* * *

 

The five reached the building.

“May I present,” Tony announced, “the rooms!”

Tony guided the group to the first door on the third floor. It was covered in Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin stickers.

“This is mine and Bruce’s room.” He opened the door and it was like the room was cut in half, apart from the bunk beds at rest in the middle of the wall. The side that was clearly Bruce’s had posters and souvenirs from his many trips to the Science Museum. Bruce nudged past Tony into his side of the room, opening up his laptop that projected tiny white squares on his glasses.

“Tony, would you mind moving your little tour somewhere else?” The boy said, raising his eyebrows with his glasses falling to the tip of his nose at his friend.

“Oh course Brucey!” Tony replied, turning to the other. “Cap, why don’t you show Matasha-”

“Natasha.” Clint interrupted, seeing Nat about to open her mouth to say the same thing.

“Yes! Natasha her new room!” Tony continued, seeming oblivious to Clint trying to conceal hid cheeks as they began to turn pink. He entered the room, climbing the ladder to the bunk bed to launch himself onto his superhero themed bed spread.

Clint happily closed the door. “The smell was starting to radiate into the outside world.”

“I don’t know how Bruce deals with it.” Steve said who started walking again down the corridor with Clint and Natasha falling in step either side of him.

“Maybe he has some nose plugs on his bedside table to get him through the night.” Clint suggested, nudging Steve playfully like he was encouraging a little kid.

“Does Tony’s side really smell that bad?” Nat asked in between laughs.

“He hasn’t done clothes washing since first year, just gets a new uniform delivered to his door every morning.” Clint explained. “Bruce wouldn’t even attempt to clean that area even if there were rats doing an re-enactment of the last supper under his wardrobe.”

Steve stopped at a door that had seen better days. Miniature holes were scattered all over the wood, the type of damage a mini catapult could do. 

“Well this is my stop.” Clint said, moving towards the door and opening it a crack, allowing Natasha to see nothing of the inside. “See you round, Nat.” He winked before closing the door softly.

Something about the way he called her ‘Nat’ made her feel like a million butterflies were fluttering around in her stomach, wanting to break free and soar in giddiness.

“Natasha?” Steve snapped her out of her lingering stare at Clint’s door.

“Yeah?”

“I forgot to mention that you’ll be sharing a room with me if that’s cool? I’m the only one without a roommate and since I guess you want to keep your cover you’re going to have to share a room.” Steve explained quickly, flashing a nervous smile and Nat was wondering if it was because he was thinking that he would have to share a room with a girl.

_No air-drying bras Romanov_ , Nat promised to herself.

 

The pair reached what Nat guessed to be Steve’s door. It was painted blue, white and red stars boarding the edge.

“Well, it’s colourful.” Nat said encouragingly.

Natasha heard Steve mumble something to himself nervously as he went to open the door and as he did, she realised why.

The room itself was ordinary. A TV with an X-Box on a desk rested on the left wall, painted oxford blue. On the right wall rested a pair of bunk beds, the bottom bed has plain white sheets and pillow; Natasha assumed this would be her bunk. Although, the other thing that gave it away was that a dark haired man was seated cross-legged at the top bunk, a game controller in his hands, wearing nothing but a washed out too-small-for-him top that read ‘Made in America’

“Mr Barnes?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! As promised this chapter is a tad longer and when i was reading it through i realised that it ended up being mainly Stucky although there are some small Clintasha moments if you can spot them! More Clintasha will be promised for chapter 5 as well as some other exciting ideas that i'm working on!   
> Also just in case i didn't make it obvious Mr Barnes (Bucky) is a teaching assistant. As well, Bruce talks about Steve being the first to turn 16 in the group and just to make it clear everyone in the group is now 16.   
> Suggestions are always appreciated as well as comments and kudos! Stay tuned for updates! :0)


	5. An Early Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tony being a little shit in the morning and love is for children

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're made it this far and haven't exited this fic out of pure horror on how bad it is than congrats! Now you can enjoy another chapter! ;) I had a lot of fun writing this one as i felt it was more focussed on Clintasha. Also it would be helpful if you could tell me what you think of the chapter sizes because i can make them longer but it would mean that it would be a while in between when i post a new chapter! As always comments and kudos are appreciated and i hope you enjoy!

“Hey Punk, I’ve been playing the rainbow road track like five times on hard, but I cant get any higher than third!” The man uncrossed his legs and paused the game. He caught Natasha’s gaze and slowly removed his headphones. “Steve-”

“Wait please!” The small boy pleaded, “I just may have forgotten to tell you about my new roommate…”

Mr Barnes jumped down from the top bunk and grabbed a pair of khaki trousers by the door. “Remember to do your physics homework.” He said in a low voice, flashing Steve a wink before swiftly sliding through a crack in the door.

After the door closed, Steve acted as if nothing unusual had happened: he went over to the X-Box to turn it off, shrugging off his blazer before draping it over a desk chair.

“That’s Bucky?” Natasha asked, her hands placed firmly on her hips, eyebrows raised.

Steve scratched his head awkwardly, “uh-huh.”

Nat felt too bad to mock the boy since she thought if he blushed anymore, he’d probably faint.

“He seems cool,” was all she replied with.

She saw a wave of relief washed over Steve and he asked her if it was okay for her to take the bottom bunk. She agreed, dumping her bag next to the pillow before realising an immediate problem.

“Um,” She hesitated, seeing Steve un-do his shirt buttons to change into pyjamas, “is there somewhere I can change?”

“What? Oh right,” his eyes widened and jumped down from his bed. “I’ll go brush my teeth.” He shuffled into the small en-suite.

Natasha was left alone.

She quickly changed into her all-black vest and leggings, but didn’t call Steve back in just yet. “ _You did it_ ,” she whispered to herself, “ _you got through you’re first day_.” And it was then a huge grin appeared across her face.

 

* * *

 

“GOOOOOOD MOOOORNINGGGGG” The familiar voice was booming in Nat’s tired and rather annoyed ears. Her eyes flew open, and in the doorway she saw a fully dressed Tony Stark and behind Bruce who looked like he hadn’t slept at all, deep shadows were shaded beneath his green eyes.

“It can’t be morning already!” Steve protested, slowly climbing down the ladder then led to the floor from his bed.

“Well, to be precise, it is morning.” Tony said, inviting himself into the room and rummaging through Steve’s drawers to pull out his uniform. Natasha immediately went to grab her own out of her backpack, not wanting Tony going through her things too. “Have you forgotten what day it is?”

“Not Tuesday already?” Steve pleaded.

“Well, of course.” Tony replied, helping Steve with his tie. Nat noticed the boys were distracted and took this opportunity to quickly throw on her uniform, her duvet giving her some privacy.

Once the two were fully dressed, Nat headed for the door then stopped for a minute, realising that it was still dark outside.

“Bruce?” She asked slowly.

“Yes?”

“What time is it?”

“Five o’clock in the morning.”

“And what time does first lesson start?”

“Eight o’clock.”

“Thank you.” She nodded to Bruce, turned to Tony, then snapped. “WHAT EXACTLY WENT THROUGH YOUR TINY BRAIN TO THINK THIS WOMAN WOULD WANT TO WAKE UP AT FIVE IN THE MORNING?”

Tony cowered, pushed a shaking Steve in front of him for protected.

“Hey! I’m not a shield!” The boy struggled.

“You do this every Tuesday?” Nat asked him.

“It’s the only was to secure our table.” Bruce answered from behind. “So I suggest we get going. Someone will have to stay behind to get Barton up whilst the rest of us get a head-start.” He pushed up his glasses before making his way out the door. “I shotgun not waking him up.”

“Shotgun not doing it!” Steve and Tony shouted simultaneously.

The three boys whipped their heads to a confused looking Nat.

“Look’s like you’re up Natasha.” Bruce declared.

“You know where Clint’s door is right?” Steve asked, his eyes shining with slight worry, which unnerved Nat a little.

“Yeah.” She followed the boys out the room, Steve grabbing hold of Nat’s shoulder whispering, “good luck” in her ear before the boys set off in the opposite direction down the hall.

 

* * *

 

Now that she had actually been able to take the time to stare at Clint Barton’s door, she realised how damaged it really was. The metal handle was chipped all round the edges, slightly hanging off. The door was completely covered with different sized holes and Nat wondered how many times Clint had received a splinter just for entering his own room.

She raised a clenched fist and pounded on the door three times.

“I swear to God, Stark, if you knock on my door one more time I will shoot you in a place no man wants to be shot.” The voice sounded sleepy, but that didn’t mean it sounded any less serious.

“Uh it’s me.” Nat said, position her mouth through one of the bigger holes. She heard something heavy bang against the floor, some shuffling, and then the door was open.

“Oh, hey Tasha.” Nat suspected Clint wasn’t fully awake since he seemed to have no problem standing in his doorway with bed head hair and in his underwear. Sheepishly, Nat tried to cover up her blushing cheeks.

“Stark and the boys said I had to wake you up.”

“’Stark and the boys?’ Sounds like a new boy band.” The boy’s tired eyes were half open and he brought his hand up to brush through his tangled morning hair. “You want to come in? Getting ready will take a while since I think I did some target practise on my old uniform last night.”

“Um, sure.”

Clint opened the door wider, inviting Nat inside.

It was hard to make out a lot of details in Clint’s room, the sun beaming in through the one window casted almost everything else in shadow. Just like all the other rooms, a bunk bed rested on the back wall, surprising Nat since she assumed he had the room to himself. She thought about asking who he shared the room with, but just as she was about to he said, “Do you want a drink?”

Clint went to mini fridge resting next to the pillow of the bottom bed.

“So you’re a drinking-beer-in-the-morning type of guy then?” Nat asked, taking a beer from Clint and seating herself on a desk chair opposite the bed where Clint sat.

“You kind of have to be if you plan on spending the rest of the day with those people,” he gestured towards a photo frame that was placed on a bedside table. In the middle of the photo was a wide-faced grinning Tony with his arms around Bruce and Clint either side and Steve lying on the floor at the front pulling a suggestive pose. Before, Nat seeing the amount of times Clint seemed annoyed at those three boys, she wondered why he was even friends with them, but then she realised it: they were his family. “You need something with a little kick to start up.” He continued, taking a swig from the bottle.

“Speaking of that then, shouldn’t you get dressed?” Nat said. Truthfully, she didn’t want to leave the room at all, but she knew if they were missing any longer, Tony especially, will have some questions.

“Oh yeah,” Nat noticed the slight embarrassment on his face as he saw the lack of clothing he was wearing, “I’ll go grab a uniform.” He swiftly shuffled to his wardrobe.

Quicker than Natasha would have secretly hoped, Clint was dressed and heading for the door and when he turned back to face her, she noticed it.

“Wait,” she called, starting towards him, “you haven’t done your tie.” Before even waiting for Clint to ask her to do it, her hands reached up to touch the fabric of his tie and she noticed there were still a few buttons on his shirt left unfastened. She tied the tie and immediately went to do up the buttons, her fingers lightly brushing the skin underneath. She felt a shiver go down her spine as she felt his warmth. She must have kept her hands there for too long because Clint brought his own up to clasp hers.

“Are you okay?” He bent down to try to catch her gaze before she quickly pulled away.

“Yeah.” She replied, pushing in front towards the door, “let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

Clint led Natasha to the lunch canteen in silence and Nat hated it. She didn’t know why she acted that way, like a man-hungry little teenage girl. _Love is for children_ , she told herself and the two of them were stopped just before the door.

It was Tony, Steve and Bruce, all of them with their faces squashed against the door window into the hall.

“Um guys?” Clint said and the three of them turned.

“Took you time!” Tony protested.

“It seems that we weren’t the only group that had their eye on this table-” Bruce started.

“ _Our_ table!” Steve interjected.

“Well who’s sitting there then?” Nat asked, and instead of getting a reply, she receive Tony’s hand pusher her towards the door.

“Have a look for yourself.” He gestured.

Nat leaned in to see through the glass. The hall was almost empty apart from one table, significantly larger and more comfortable looking than the rest. Nearly all the boys at the table looked identical with their russet brown hair, but there was one seated at the centre, his hair a golden sand colour, the top half tied up in a small bun.

“Who is that?” Nat voice was muffled as she pushing her face into the door in an effort to get a close look.

“That,” said Bruce, pushing up his glasses and crossing his arms, “is Thor.”


	6. You didn't see that coming?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a table stealer and an awkward english lesson

No one dared to say a word when Tony started pacing the hallway.

“Why can’t we just walk in? Get another table?” Natasha suggested, looking to Bruce for an explanation for Tony’s actions.

“J-ust wa-lk in?! Get an…other table?!” Tony’s breathing quickened, “I think I’m feeling light-headed.” Steve caught him and as pretended to faint, the small blonde boy looked pleadingly at Bruce.    

“Look guys, it’s not like we haven’t been in this situation before.” Clint exclaimed, helping Steve get Tony to a standing position.

“But the last time it did happen, we had the worst week of our lives!” Tony exaggerated.

“What is he talking about?” Nat asked, leaning over to Bruce.

“Stark believes that every time Thor steals our table, that we’ll get a pranked on by him and his group for the week.”

“It’s not pranking I tell you! It’s bad luck!” Tony protested, “I could out-prank Odinson will my eyes shut.” His breathing became heavy again and Clint dragged him and began stroking his hair like a puppy. He caught Nat smiling at him and flashed her a wink.

“Maybe if we show him we’re not afraid of him, he won’t prank us!” Steve suggested hopefully.

“Hey I never said I was afraid of Thor!” Tony said angrily, breaking away from Clint.

“Pull yourself together, Tony,” Bruce commanded and Tony quickly fixed his hair, “we’re going in. Everyone follow my lead.” Bruce pushed the doors to the canteen open and the boys followed him in one by one, with Nat tailing on the end.

 

The hall would have been silent, if it wasn’t for the booming laughs that came from Thor’s table and he stood, blocking Bruce’s path, when the gang approached them.

“Rising early aren’t we?” Thor said, making an effort to look down at Bruce even though he was only about half an inch taller.

Just as Bruce opened his mouth to reply, Tony jumped out from behind him.

“Says you, table stealer!” Tony said, before quickly hiding behind Bruce again, followed by a muffled groan as Bruce kicked his leg.

“Ignore him. We were just making our way to a table to sit at.” Bruce kept his eyes locked on Thor’s, and when the boy revealed his awkwardness and smirk spread across Bruce’s face.

Feeling defeated, Thor returned to his seat, letting Bruce and the others pass.

The others remained silent until they were all seat at a table furthest away from Thor’s. Bruce and Tony seated one side, and Nat, Steve and Clint on the other.

“I still you made me wake up at five this morning for nothing.” Nat said, as she went to take of her cap, before feeling a poke at her side. She looked to see Clint with his eyes wide and then she remembered, and kept the hat on.

“But it wasn’t for nothing!” Tony reassured, looking excited, “Banner stood up at Thor!”

Bruce responded by pushing up his glasses and giving a shrug. “I was just trying to get us away before you said anything else stupid.”

“Table stealer!” Steve mocked, giggling. Clint leant over to him and caught him in a headlock, before ruffling his hair. “Stop it!” Steve protested, and Clint released his grip on the boy.

“What lessons have we got today, Brucey?” Tony asked, resting his head on his friend’s shoulder.

Bruce pulled out a piece of paper from his bag and read aloud:

Lesson 1- English

Lesson 2- Maths

Lesson 3- PE

 

Nat was waiting for Bruce to say more, but he stopped after lesson three.

“Don’t you usually have five lessons?” She asked.

“Tuesday’s always a half day.” Bruce replied, looking up from the timetable, “because there’s a full length football match that takes place on the field.”

“But of course we never go to it.” Steve added in, nudging Nat.

“So what do you guys do then?”

“Well Rogers here goes to the staff room to see Mr Barnes.” Tony said, winking at Steve.

“Hey!” Steve went to kick Tony’s feet under the table, but his chin had to rest on the table before he even got close.

“We go to a park just outside the school and then chill at Bruce’s.” Clint said.

“Wait Bruce, if you live just outside the school then why are you boarding.” Nat asked.

“Mum wanted me to have the full experience since most of the other students boarded too.”

“Plus he got a scholarship so he doesn’t have to pay any boarding fees anyway,” Tony added in, “wait till you see his place, Romanov, his family’s loaded!”

“My family is not ‘loaded’, Stark. We just came into a large sum of money from my father inheritance when he passed.”

Nat expected the atmosphere of the table to become awkward when Bruce mentioned his dead dad, but no one seemed fazed.

Clint must have noticed Nat looking uncomfortable and reassured her, “Bruce never met his dad, the man died as soon as Ms Banner became pregnant. She says he was a dick and an alcoholic who died in a drink driving accident.”

 

As the hours dragged on, the canteen slowly started filling up with students, before the bell rang at eight and it was time for English.

“How come we all have the same class together today, but you weren’t in Maths yesterday?” Nat asked Clint on their way to the classroom, with Tony giving Steve a piggyback behind them and Bruce watching them cautiously.

“I was in detention.”

“For an hour, plus lunch?”

“Yup.”

“What did you do?” Nat tried to stop herself from giggling.

“Shot a slingshot at Miss Hill. She’s refused to come back to school for the rest of the week.”

“What does she teach?” Nat asked as they approached the classroom door. The other boys took their seats at the desks at the back of the classroom.

“English.” Clint replied, followed by a wink as he took his seat next to Steve.

Nat looked to the front of the classroom to see Mr Barnes writing his named on the whiteboard. She looked as Steve and saw his cheeks burning red. She tried desperately to avoid eye contact with the teacher, remembered seeing him in Steve’s bed last night, but he saw her and quickly looked back at the whiteboard.

“Ah Nate,” he said awkwardly, “You can sit next to Pietro.”

Nat made her way to sit next to the silver-haired boy, their desk next to Tony and Bruce’s.

Pietro had his feet propped up on the tap, resting on the space in front of Nat’s chair. When she pulled it out to sit, there was a pause, before he let his feet fall and shuffle under the table.

“What’s with the hat?” The boy asked with a heavy eastern European accent.

Like a reflex, Nat immediately went to check that there weren’t any long pieces of red hair falling out her cap.

“Bad hair day.” She replied nervously.

“It’s cool, you’re secret’s safe me.” He nudged her, before copying down the notes Mr Barnes had written on the board.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Nat said, trying to deepen her voice.

“What? You didn’t see that coming? I’m not as stupid as the rest of these idiots.” Nat saw a smirk form on the boy’s face. “So what’s your real name then? Natile? Nataila?”

“Natasha.” Nat mumbled.

“Wonderful, I’m Pietro.” He pulled out a packet of hard sweets, “want one?”

“Sure.”

“Are you watching the football match today?” Nat asked, trying to change the subject from how apparently awful her disguise is.

“You’re joking right?” Pietro raised his eyebrows and leaning back on his chair, “it is actually painful watching how slow those idiot run.”

“Why don’t you play it then?”

“Please, I don’t play football,” he looked offended, “I just run.”

“Well a few of us are going to hang out at the park outside school if you want to tag along?”

“I can’t,” his face turned pale, “I have to visit my sister.”

“Right sorry.” Nat replied quickly, noticing she had hit a nerve.

As soon as the bell rang to signify the end of the lesson, Pietro bolted out the door, so fast that Nat felt a rush of wind as he passed her. She sat there for a second, before Clint nudged her out of her gaze.

“Come on. We’ve got to get to Maths early to get a good table.”

“Right sure.”

“So what were you and Quicksilver talking about then?” Tony asked from behind Clint as they made their way out of class.

“Quicksilver?” Nat asked.

“Just another one of Starks nicknames.” Said Bruce.

“I asked him if he wanted to go to the park with us.”

“YOU DID WHAT?”

“Calm down, he said no anyway.”

“Well of course he said no.” Bruce stated, matter-of-factly. “He was probably going to visit Wanda.”

“I’m guessing that’s his sister.”

“Yes, she goes to an all girl’s boarding school about thirty minutes from here. He checks up on her as much as he can.”

“Wait, how do you know all of this?” Tony asked.

“Because believe it or not I’ve actually had a conversation with him.”

“Shut up!” Steve said, snapping his fingers.

“Why would you talk to him Brucey?” Tony said, dramatically putting his hand to his heart like he had been shot, “he’s a smart ass and cocky.”

“And you’re not?” Clint said, laughing to himself.

“Oh please, I am the COMPLETE opposite to Maximoff.”

“Keep you’re knickers on Tony, I would never off him a place in the group.” Bruce reassured.

“That’s what I thought. And if anyone is in the position to offer places in the group it’s me! Just like I invited our friend-” Tony paused for a second to check is anyone else was in the room, “Natasha here to join!” He put his arm round her shoulder. Nat caught Clint giggling at her.

“Lucky me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry i've been away for so long (mainly because of school) but im back! I hope you enjoyed this chpater! I was so excited to introduced the Maximoff twins. They wont be appearing in every chapter like the gang, but you will definitely be reading more of them soon! Please comment any feedback and kudos are always appreciated! :o) 
> 
> (also please comment if there are any spelling/grammatical errors since im posting this at night and is therefore too lazy to proof read it oops)


	7. Just in case

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a secret romance and looking out for a friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!WARNING!!: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS HOMOPHOBIC LANGUAGE THAT SOME READERS MAY FIND OFFENSIVE

It was already halfway through the lesson and Tony hadn’t taken his eyes off the boy with shoulder-length ebony hair sitting on a table alone. It turned out that Bucky was only teaching for half the lesson and a bandaged Miss Hill took over and throughout the lesson, ignored Clint whenever he raised his hand.

“I didn’t even shoot her that hard,” he mumbled.

In between writing notes, Nat looked up to see Tony’s notebook blank, the lid on his pen. She looked around the table: Bruce seemed to be scribbling down every word the teacher was saying and got sent out of the classroom the minute he got caught firing spit balls at Nat from across the table. She nudged Steve, who was doodling in his notebook next to her, but immediately shut it once she caught his attention.

“What’s Stark doing?” She asked.

“Tony and Loki,” Nat assumed Loki was who Stark’s eyes were locked on, “have a interesting relationship.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that it mainly consists of them staring at each other. Tony thinks only himself and Bruce know, but I see it too.”

“Why doesn’t he just talk to him?” Natasha let her voice slide into a whisper as she saw Tony fidget, but still laid his eyes on Loki.

“Let’s just say something happened between Loki and Clint that we don’t really talk about.” Steve flicked his eyes awkwardly to the ground, then they widened in sudden worry. “You can’t tell Clint about Tony and Loki, okay? We can’t have what happened last time…” Steve brought his eyes up to look at Loki.

“What happened last time?” Nat asked, leaning towards Steve with interest.

Steve turned to her, and looked like he was going to tell her. Then, as if something pinched him, his expression changed and instead he said, “Nothing. Look, forget I said anything, okay?” Steve then buried his head into his notebook again.

Nat tuned into what the teacher was saying.

“Right since no one seems to what to offer an answer, I’ll have to pick on someone.”

Nat saw Tony’s body tense.

The teacher inspected the classroom, her eyes scanning each table, before stopping at Loki, who seemed to be covering most of his face with his raven hair.

“Mr Odinson? Do you have an answer?” The teacher asked.

Loki’s body also became rigid, not moving an inch.

“Loki? You know it is rude to ignore people.” That was went the boy started shaking and Tony immediately shot his hand into the air.

“I’m not taking volunteers, Mr Stark-”

“X equals 42, Sir” Tony was now standing, his eyes flicking between Loki and the teacher and from across the table, Nat saw his fist clench.

“It seems Mr Stark has saved you once again,” the teacher mocked, looking at a now still Loki; Tony sunk back into his chair.

 

“Could you people walk any slower?” Tony complained, his iPad in hand. The gang were headed to the canteen and Tony had not said one word about what happened in Maths, it was like it never happened.

“I’ll catch up with you guys,” Steve said, straying off to the left, “I said I’d meet Bucky at the gates since he’s not working for the rest of the week.”

Nat smiled seeing the skinny, fair-haired boy’s face light up.

“Alright, well you better take a step stool with you,” Clint said, ruffling the boy’s hair.

Steve waved at his friends as he made his way to the school gates and Nat wondered why no one else was still walking towards the canteen.

“Um Tony, weren’t you just complaining that we were walking too slowly?” Nat asked, but all she got in reply was a “shh”.

“How much longer?” Tony asked Bruce, who was looking closely at his watch.

“We should have enough distance now.” He replied and Tony pursued forward in the direction Steve just went, followed closely by Clint, then Bruce. Confused at first, Nat realised she was trailing behind and picked up her pace and fell into step beside Clint.

“What’s going on?” Nat asked, noticing the sudden concern that fell upon the boys.

“It’s just in case.” Was all he said in reply and soon Nat could see Steve in the distance, just outside the school gates.

 

“Do you think you could still come to my room unnoticed?” Steve asked Bucky hopefully, lacing his fingers with the taller boy.

“It’s never stopped me before,” Bucky replied with a smirk on his face and leant down to kiss his boyfriend’s forehead.

Nat noticed Bucky’s eyes weren’t completely focused on Steve’s though; it was like he was looking for something, or making sure no one saw them.

Steve seemed to have been successful in catching his boyfriend’s attention because Bucky’s eyes were on Steve’s again and his kissed him once more, his strong hands snaking around the small boy’s neck.

 

Tony and Clint began to lean forward slightly when Bucky left and Steve made his way back into the school.

 

“Hey gay boy!” There was a group of boy surging towards Steve, the voice seemed to be coming from one that was significantly taller than the rest and bore a thick germen accent.

Nat could see that sudden fear that showed on Steve’s face as the group formed a circle around him.

“Having a smooch with ya little boyfriend, pussy boy?”

“Careful boys! He might try something on you!”

“Maybe your mummy should have sent you to an all girl’s school.”

 

Nat saw Bruce’s grip on Clint and Tony’s shoulders tighten.

“Wait until there’s an opening in the circle,” he said to them both.

“Brucey,” Tony began as Clint cracked his knuckles, “hold my iPad”. Bruce took the device from Tony.

“Okay now!” Bruce gave the signal and like bullets, Clint and Tony sped towards Steve.

 

Clint went straight for the taller boy, preparing his slight-shot and firing a textbook at his head. Both boys were kicking and punching and Nat had never seen them so angry. They kept fighting until all the boys were on the floor and groaning. Then Bruce starts forward, followed by a concerned Nat.

“Where’s Ward?” Tony shouted, his breathing heavy with fury.

Clint charged towards the tall boy still on the floor and grabs him by the throat, pushing him against the wall, pinning him against it.

“He’s all yours Stark”

Nat saw a smirk spread across Tony’s face and he ran into the boy, Ward, punch and kicking until Clint was the only thing keeping the boy upright.

 

In the chaos, Nat rushed to Steve and hugged him before he could protest. She finally broke away, but was still gripping his shoulders so that her nails dug into his skin a little.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine don’t worry.” Steve replied, but Nat saw how red and puffy her friend’s eyes had become however she said nothing and hugged him once more.

 

When Tony finally stopped punching he signalled Nat to bring Steve over.

“Now, Ward, you apologise to Steve and Barton and I here might spare you from seeing your blood on my new shirt.”

“S-sor-ry,” the boy mumbled, his head facing the ground.

“Louder!” Clint ordered, tightening his grip on the boy’s shoulders, making him wince.

“SORRY” Ward cried and Clint released him, letting the boy slump to the floor.

 

Clint and Tony flashed worried looks at Steve, as if they were checking if their friend had been hurt. But there was another voice that interrupted them before anyone could speak.

“Barton, Stark, Banner, Rogers,” Mr Coulson shouted, “and new boy, Romanov. Detention, you’re all coming with me.”

“Damn,” Clint said, “I knew there was someone I forgot to shoot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's chapter 7! i hope you guys liked it and as promised i present clint and tony being protective which was really awesome to write and i know that at the moment there hasnt really been a lot of clintasha moments and i think that's because i want to take the relationship slow and show them becoming friends, then best friends, then slowly falling in love with each other so hopefully that will work! Also again i was to lazy to proof read this because i wanted to get the chapter up asap so please tell me if there are any spelling/grammatical mistakes!! As always please comment any feedback you have and any ideas you have for future chapters and story lines and bookmarks and kudos are always appreciated!! Thanks you reading! ^_^ 
> 
> Instagram: @b.uckyboo


	8. Well now you're not alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> loyal soldiers, water gun/fiery arrow/shield, a game of truth or dare and not wanting to sleep

“So what is that German or something, ‘Romanov’?”

“Close, genius. I’m Russian.”

Mr Coulson snapped his head to stare at Tony and Nat. “One more word and I’ll make sure you miss this afternoon’s game.”

“Oh no! Not the game!” Clint mumbled in a mocking voice next to Nat, which made her try to stifle her giggle.

 

Mr Coulson led the gang to the familiar room at the Dick Brick, shoving the kids in before locking the door on the way out. “This door will unlock again once the game begins,” was the teacher’s final words before he left and the five of them were alone. Steve was the first to move, storming towards the back of the classroom where he began to pace. Tony started forward after his friend, but a firm grip on his shirt from Bruce pulled him back. Steve looked back at his friends to find them all staring at him.

“How long have you been following me when I go to meet Bucky?” His voice was quiet, but Nat heard every word. Bruce was the one to reply.

“We’ve always done, just in case.”

Steve kept silent for a second and noticed the worry in his friends’ eyes, then he bolted forward, slamming into Tony, pulling him into a hug. Then he locked eyes with Clint and pulled him in too, followed by Bruce who pulled in Nat.

“Thank you guys,” Steve said in between sobs.

“Soldiers never abandon their Captain.” Tony said and the group held their embrace and Nat felt herself well up with tears and thought to herself, “Maybe these guys aren’t so bad.”

 

* * *

 

Tony decided to cancel the plan of going to the park while the game was going on and upon Steve’s request, the gang all made their way to Steve and Nat’s room.

Once they got to the room, Steve made for his record player and asked for song requests. Reluctantly, Tony insisted that Steve play his choice of music which meant listening to The Breakfast Club theme song on repeat for the rest of the day.

Tony announced that his uniform was tainted with ‘dickhead germs’ and insisted on changing into casual clothes and the rest of the boys followed suit, Nat trying her best to stop her eyes from widening as four boys started undressing in her room.

“Um, I’m just going to…get changed in here,” she mumbled awkwardly, opening the door to the bathroom.

“Awww, come on Nat!” Tony egged, unbuttoning his shirt, “no need to hide, we’re all friends here!” This was followed by a kick in the shin courtesy of Clint. Steve went through Nat’s drawer, which for some reason she didn’t feel angry about, and threw her some clothes, in which she acknowledged with an embarrassed nod.

Once Nat had dressed, she walked out of the bathroom to find the four boys in a circle sitting cross-legged.

“But that doesn’t make sense!” moaned Steve, holding a pillow in front of his face like a shield, “how does fiery arrow beat shield?”

“Because it’s an arrow…on FIRE!” exclaimed an excited Clint, his arms positioned as if he was holding an invisible bow and arrow.

Nat sat in between Clint (who was still arguing with Steve whilst Tony was capturing the moment on his iPad) and Bruce and cleared her throat.

“As you could have guessed,” Bruce started, a smile sliding across his face, “the boys quickly got bored with just talking when we all hung out so Mr Stark had the bright idea that we re-invent the popular game of rock, paper, scissors.”

“So how do you play?”

“Well, fiery arrow beast shield…”

“Which doesn’t make any sense!” shouted Steve who was now running in circles around the room, using the pillow as a shield as Clint made clicking and explosion sounds as he shot his invisible arrows at the boy.

“…shield beats water gun and water gun beats fiery arrow.” Bruce finished and Tony made a sploshing sound whilst aiming an imaginary water gun at Clint.

 

* * *

 

“I’m boreddddddddd,” a load groan from the corner came from Tony Stark who was looking through Nat’s underwear drawer, which resulted with a burning red hand mark on the boy’s cheek.

“What about truth or dare?” Nat suggested, but Clint, Steve and Bruce began to shake their heads violently, followed by pretending to slit their throats.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea!” The light seemed to return to Tony’s face, followed by a sigh from the other boys.

“What’s wrong with truth or dare?” Nat asked, nudging Clint who now sat beside her on her bottom bunk, with Bruce on a desk chair and Steve and Tony on the floor.

“Let’s just say Stark likes the sound of his own voice a little too much,” Clint said quietly to Nat and the two kids exchanged a smirk.

“Now do you want to know my first kiss, or my first girlfriend, or my first boyfriend, or my most embarrassing moment? Ha! That’s a trick, I’ve never had one!”

“Wait what about that time when…”

“Brucey shush now.”

Nat could see a bead of sweat falling down the side of his head and began to giggle and pointed it out to Clint.

“What was that Bruce?” Clint asked.

“Now, now” Tony interfered quickly, “who wants to hear about boring old me anyway?” The beads of sweat began to multiply.

“Surprisingly not many people,” Steve said, winking at Nat and Clint. “So Tony, truth or da…”

“DARE, DARE. DEFINITELY DARE.” Tony shouted nervously.

“I dare you to kiss Steve’s ass,” Bruce said, to Nat’s surprise, and it must have shown since he turned to her and raised his eyebrows. “What are you looking at Romanov? I can be fun.”

“It’s true,” Tony said, “Banner here is the life and soul of the party.”

“Hey you still haven’t accepted my dare!” Bruce said, nudging Tony’s head with his foot.

“Yeah Tony!” Steve encouraged, “my butts nice and smooooooth.”

“I don’t have a choice do I?”

“Nope,” everyone else said in unison.

With a deep sign, Tony shuffled over to Steve who began to pull his boxers down an inch to reveal pink skin.

Clint raised his hand and covered Nat’s eyes.

“No lady should see this!” He said, before Nat pushed him away and unsuccessfully tried to stifle her giggle.

“Just one kiss right?” Tony asked Bruce, his face about a centimetre from Steve’s butt cheek.

“Unless you beg for more!” Steve teased, followed by a nod from Bruce who couldn’t stop laughing.

 

As soon as Tony’s lips left Steve butt, the boy nearly tripped running to the bathroom and spent the next five minutes using up all of Steve and Nat’s mouthwash.

“Don’t lie you liked it!” Steve said, pulling his trousers up and snapping the air, before receiving high fives from the rest of the group.

“Alright Romanov,” Tony said, his face soaking wet, noticing Nat’s failed attempt to stop laughing, “truth or dare?”

Since Nat didn’t feel like kissing anyone’s rear end that night she went with truth.  

“Alright, you have to tell us about your old school and if you prefer us to your old friends!” Tony commanded, wiping his face with a towel that had stars and stripes on it.

“Pass.” Nat’s face went pale.

“You can’t pass!” Tony argued, “If we could pass I wouldn’t have to kiss-”

“She said pass.” Clint raised his voice and Bruce quickly interfered before the atmosphere grew awkward.

“Come on Stark, she’s new,” Bruce persuaded, “she gets a pass card.”

“Fine.” Tony mumbled, squinting his eyes suspiciously at Nat who shuffled uncomfortably on the bed.

 

The rest of the night consisted of marathoning all of Steve’s favourite movies which included The Breakfast Club, Brokeback Mountain and a bunch of old war movies, and before they knew it, it was well past midnight which meant everyone ended up sleeping on the floor of Steve and Nat’s room.

 

 

* * *

 

It was the third time Nat woke up and she looked at her clock:

 

_3:06am_

 

She decided that there was no point in trying to sleep anymore and got up, putting on her yellow jacket when she noticed the window to the room was open. She looked out to see a boy with spiked dirty blond hair firing a slingshot into the air.

“Clint?” Nat climbed out the window onto the roof and sat beside him, “what are you doing here?”

“Thinking…” he was quiet for a second, then fired another bouncy ball from his slingshot, “you? It’s late.”

“I didn’t want to try to sleep.” Nat mumbled, trying to avoid eye contact, as she felt the weakness in her voice.

“You didn’t like him asking about your past, did you?”

“No.”

“Do you want to talk about it now?”

“No.”

“Okay, it’s colder than I thought it would be out here.” He began to remove his jacket, but when he noticed that Nat already had one on, Clint pulled it over himself.

“Wait, you’re not going to keep insisting you know what’s wrong?” Nat was now looking at Clint who was looking at the sky.

“Well no,” he began, returning Nat’s look, “Because you don’t want to talk about it.”

“Oh right,” Nat dropped her gaze and looked at the floor, “yeah.”

“Do you want me to talk?” Clint asked and Nat realised that he had shuffled closer to her that meant their shoulders were touching, but she didn’t move away.

“Yeah.”

“You know, sometimes I come out here when I don’t want to sleep and grab my slingshot and shoot.”

“What are you aiming for?”

“Don’t know really. Maybe the stars? I think it would raise a few alarms if I started smashing windows in the middle of the night, don’t you think?

“Yeah.”

“You look nice with your hair out like that,” Nat almost forgot she had come outside without her cap on and began to look around nervously.

“Don’t worry,” Clint reassured her, “as far as I know I’m the only one who comes up here.”

“Well now you’re not alone.”

“I guess I’m not,” Nat saw a small breathy laugh escape his mouth and she moved closer to him. She thought about resting her head on his shoulder, but quickly dismissed the thought. “Did you have any friends at your old school?”

“I…um…”

“Oh shit sorry, you don’t have to talk.”

“Thanks.”

“So what do you want to do?”

“Can we just sit here for a while?”

“Sure.”

A pause.

“Clint?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you…uh…have a…um”

“Have a what?”

“Never mind, forget it.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” Nat nuzzled closer to him and her head felt heavy, which resulted in it resting on Clint’s shoulder against her will, but as she closed her eyes she smiled, because he didn’t shrug it off and instead rested his own head on hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little bit longer than the others so well done if you made it to the end! I probably had the most fun writing this chapter more than the others and often found myself laughing out load as I wrote! I hope you guys liked it and as always feedback in the comments and kudos are much appreciated!! (also i actually proof read this one be proud of me)
> 
> Instagram: @b.uckyboo


	9. I shouldn't be the one to tell you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a day off school at Steve's house

“Guys! Wake up!” Steve whispered, catching Nat and Clint still on the roof. Clint was the first to wake and as soon as he locked eyes with Steve, he jumped up, knocking Nat out of her sleep.

“What’s going on?” She said in a sleepy voice, half walking, half being dragged by Steve back to her bed.

“You’ll just make it worse for yourself.” Nat heard Steve whisper to Clint.

Just as Tony began to wake up, Steve pushed Nat onto her bed and Clint stood at the other side of the room, nervously picking his nails.

“Morning dickheads,” Tony said, his chocolate hair sticking out in every direction.

Once Nat could properly open her eyes she noticed someone was missing.

“Where’s Bruce?”

As if on cue, the wavy-haired boy burst through the door holding four cups of coffee.

“Freshly delivered!” Bruce exclaimed, looking very pleased with himself.

“I still don’t understand how you can wake up so early,” said Tony, taking the warm cup from his friend’s hand.

“Actually it’s only 7:30,” Bruce said, handing the remaining coffee cups to the others.

“WHAT?” Tony almost spilt his drink, “WE’RE GOING TO LOOSE OUR TABLE! AGAIN!”

“Calm down,” Bruce reassured, “Pietro said that the teachers are having a training day so there’s no school.”

“Awesome!” Nat said encouragingly, still noticing Clint twiddling his thumbs.

“Why were you talking to Maximoff again?” Tony asked. He was standing now and handed his coffee to Steve, before getting dressed in a red t-shirt and skinny jeans. “And why was he up that early? I mean I thought it was just a smart person thing.” He winked at Steve who giggled a little, then stopped when Bruce gave him a stern look.

“He stayed overnight at the hospital again.”

“I thought the type of hospital his sister’s at doesn’t allow overnight visitors?” Clint said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

“They don’t” Bruce started, answering Clint’s question, “which meant sneaking out early. He was getting a coffee from the canteen and said he overheard Fury having a meeting about having a training day today and that emails have been sent to all the students.” He open his own emails on his phone and showed the message to Tony, who he knew wouldn’t take Pietro’s word.

“So what do we do now?” Tony asked, sipping his coffee.

“I think Sam’s home today so we could go to my place?” Steve suggested, now dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a blue t-shirt.

“Sounds good to me,” said Bruce and since no one seemed to object, he rushed Clint and Nat to get dressed and the gang were out the door and headed for Steve’s house which ended up being only a ten minute walk.

 

“So why do you board when you live so close to the school?” Nat asked Steve. Bruce and Tony were walking a metre ahead with Clint in the middle, but he seemed more interested in his phone.       

“I’ve only got Sam at home and it’s a rare occasion that he’s at the house for any longer than a couple of hours to say hey.” Nat heard Steve’s reply, but didn’t answer, and Steve noticed where her attention was.

“I think he was just a bit embarrassed,” Steve tried to reassure her.

“But why? Because I’m some crazy girl who likes to dress up as a guy?”

“It’s-”

“I swear if you say it’s complicated-”

“I was going to say I shouldn’t be the one to tell you.”

“Steve! That you?” The voice was male and coming from the doorway of the house straight ahead.

When she reached the house, Nat realised that this must have been Sam. The man looked to be in his early twenties, his skin a dark shade of brown, with black stubble. He wore a white t-shirt with a few dirt stains on it, paired with jogging bottoms. As Nat got closer, she saw he was sweating.

“Been running again Sam?” Steve said, pulling his friend into a hug. “You know the only way I can beat you in a race is on Mario Kart.”

“I still believe puberty is on its way my friend, and I can’t have my little man beating me when he gets buff.” Sam winked and greeted the other boys with a hug. His eyes rested on Nat and for some reason she felt nervous. How would she introduce herself? As Nate?  

“You must be Natasha,” Sam said, holding out his hand and Nat felt herself turn red and flash a stern look at Steve. “It cool I won’t tell,” Sam reassured and Nat took his hand and everyone went inside.

 

If Nat hadn’t known these boys, she’d think that they all lived here. Bruce went to the nearest plug socket and began charging his laptop, whilst Tony made a beeline for the fridge, bringing out a pack of beers. Nat sat awkwardly of the end of the sofa and moved up a little when she saw Clint coming towards her, expecting him to sit next to her, but he sat himself on an arm chair at the other side of the living room.

“So what’s been going on at school?” Sam asked, receiving a drink from Tony who began passing them out before sitting in between Nat and Steve.

Steve shuffled awkwardly for a second. “Nothing really…”

Sam leaned back to Bruce who was sitting at the desk on his laptop. “What did he do?” He asked.

“Let’s just say Steve wouldn’t be looking so pretty if we weren’t there.” Bruce said, finally taking his eyes off the computer screen and crossed his legs.

Sam sat forward now; his eyes were clouded with concern.

“Steve what happened?”

Steve told Sam about the incident with Grant Ward, with plenty of ‘ums’ and ‘uhs’ and shuffling thrown in. He couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact with his friend. 

“I’m calling Bucky,” Sam stated and stormed into the kitchen before Steve could interject.

As soon as Sam left, the atmosphere grew awkward and silent.

“So is Sam your brother or?” Nat asked, trying to break the ice as well as alleviating her curiosity.

“Sam adopted me as soon as he turned eighteen,” Steve began, he looked more relaxed, but his eyes kept flicking back to an angry Sam on the phone, “before that my uncle was looking after me, but it wasn’t really working out. Sam and I met at an athletics class after school. Even though I wasn’t and still not the best at sports, it meant an hour less at home.” Steve looked at Sam again, but the man’s expression had changed from anger to worry and Steve gave a weak smile. “Sam was the one to introduce me to Bucky, they were in the same class.”

“He’s on his way,” Sam said, walking back into the living room.

 

When Mr Barnes let himself in, no one made an effort to greet him and he went straight for Steve, pulling the blond boy’s ear into the kitchen.

Nat could hear what was being said despite the door being slammed shut behind the two boys.

“What were you thinking?”

“Oh I’m sorry! I can’t exactly help being beat up because of my sexuality!”

This was the first time Nat had heard Steve speak out for himself.

“Why didn’t you call for help? Why didn’t you call me?”

“Well believe it or not, my attention wasn’t really drawn towards my phone Buck.”

“How badly do you hurt?” Bucky’s tone had now turned soft.

“It’s nothing, they barely touched me…just pushed around a little.”

“I’m going to kill him.”

“Buck-”

“I’m not going to let him, or anyone do this to you!”

“Then let me fight my own battles. You can’t always be there.”

“I should. I should have been there.”

Nat stopped listening and tuned into what Sam was saying.

“…and that’s why you should be watching Game of Thrones.”

“Hey I watch that show!” Nat perked up, trying to look like she was paying attention. She looked over at Clint, at least he wasn’t looking at his phone, but it was like he was purposely trying to avoid her eyes.

“How’s Riley?” Bruce asked, noticing that Sam had started to guess that something was off.

“Oh, he’s good. Haven’t had a date night in a while, but at least I get to see him every day.” The man’s face lit up at the mention of his boyfriend’s name.

 

Before Bruce could think of another conversation topic to avoid silence, the kitchen door opened and Bucky said goodbye to the group, exclaiming that he needed to get back to the school and let himself out, before planting a kiss on Steve’s forehead.  

Steve’s eyes were still fixed on the door, which meant he couldn’t stop what Sam was about to say.

“So Clint,” he began, “are things getting any better with Laura?”

It was only when Sam finished that Steve paid attention, flashing an alarming look at Nat. 

Clint shuffled nervously in his seat before speaking quietly. “It’s okay.”

“I guess it’s pretty awkward, huh?” Sam directed at Clint who, for a moment, flicked his eyes to Nat.

“Who wants drinks?” Steve quickly interrupted quickly. “Nat! Come and help me in the kitchen!”

Nat looked at Steve who was giving some cryptic eye signal and got up, following him into the other room, shutting the door behind her.

“Steve what is it?”

Steve didn’t answer, he just gave Nat a look that had a mix of worry and concern, which reminded her a little of how Sam looked at Steve.

“Ok, who’s Laura then?” said Nat, asking the question Steve wanted, “and why has Clint been acting weird since you found us on the roof? I mean I know I’m not the quietest sleeper…”

“It’s not you.” Steve bit his lip nervously.

“Then what?”

“Laura is Clint’s fiancé.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought the story was starting to his a block so i threw in a little plot twist! Sorry! I just to thank you all for getting this fic up to 1.8k hits it means a lot that you have taken the time to even read one chapter! As always kudos and comment are greatly appreciated. 
> 
> instagram: @b.uckyboo


	10. This is my problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> clint's story and missing dinner

Nat hadn’t said a word since Steve told her, and when her and the boys walked back to the dorms, she purposely trailed behind.

It was only when Bruce went for a coffee run, and Tony and Steve were in a deep conversation about why Doritos are the best crisps that Clint moved to sit next to her.

“Hey, are you okay?” He went to nudge her, but instead fiddled with his fingers and stared at her hands in her lap, as if he was unable to look at her face.

“Yup.” Nat lied.

“Look, I was going to tell you-”

“It’s fine.” She could feel tears welling up and she tried to blink them away.

“But it’s not is it.” Clint voice went quieter.

Nat stood up, “I’m going to see if Bruce needs any help.” She made her way to the door of her and Steve’s dorm room, leading out to the hallway.

“I don’t think Bruce needs help carrying coffee,” Tony said, now paying attention. Nat noticed the worry in Steve’s eyes.

Nat didn’t reply to Tony and walked out the door.

 

As soon as the door closed Clint was on his feet and started towards Steve.

“Why did you tell her? I wanted to tell her myself!” He almost went to grab the small boy’s collar, but Tony was there to hold his friend back.

“Clint mate, calm down.” Tony said, pulling Clint away from Steve and onto Nat’s bottom bunk.

“I had to tell her!” Steve started, his hands crossed as he began pacing the small room. “I couldn’t let her just sit there while you talk about Laura!”

“Which Sam brought up!”

“Don’t blame this on him,” Steve face turned serious, his blond eyebrows moving closer together, “you know she had to find out sooner or later.”

“Well I would have preferred later,” Clint mumbled, shrugging off Tony who was now running his fingers through his once perfectly gel-spiked hair.

“Why don’t you just end things with Laura?” Steve asked and he slumped into his desk chair.

Clint seemed to be able to make eye contact now. “You know I can’t.”

“I hate my parents so much,” Tony said quietly, but the other boys could see him shaking. “Why couldn’t they just have given you the money you need, instead of making you marry my sister? It’s not fucking fair.” Tony clenched his fist and made impact with the wall.

“Tony stop it.” Clint said in a monotone voice, “this is my problem.”

“But it shouldn’t be!” Tony protested. “You shouldn’t have to choose between marrying my sister and never attending Shield Academy again.”

“Maybe we could try to convince Fury to change the school from private to community? So you don’t have to pay to go?” Steve suggested hopefully, but he still slouched in his chair.

“I don’t think Fury’s going to change the rules for one student,” Clint said, “let alone changing the rules for me.”

“I hate it.” Tony said again, rubbing his knuckles.

“Me too.”

 

Bruce, Tony and Clint left the room at five and as soon as they left, Nat climbed straight into bed.

It was 7:10pm when Steve woke her, holding a tray full of food.

“I thought you’d be hungry since you missed dinner.” He set down the food next to her bed and sat on the floor, leaning against the bed frame.

“Steve, you don’t have to stay with me,” Nat muttered from behind her duvet, “you can go see the boys, or Bucky.”

“I know.”

“But you’re staying here?”

“Yep.”

Silence.

“You know Clint wanted to be the one to tell you.” Steve said.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Nat buried her head in sheets, the food still untouched next to her. Then she felt a chill and realised Steve had pulled off the duvet from her bed. “What the hell Steve!”

Steve gathered up the duvet into a ball and chucked it to the side. “I’m not having you sulk for the rest of the night,” he stated, “we are going to talk about today.”

“But I don’t want to.” Nat dragged herself out of bed and wrapped herself in her dressing gown, warming her hands on the coffee Steve brought her.

“He really cares about you, you know.” Steve looked at Nat, but she kept her eyes down.

“Yeah, he cares about me enough to be engaged to someone else.”

“It wasn’t his choice.”

“What do you mean?”

Before Steve could answer there was a knock at the door, but it opened before either of them got to the door.

“Can I talk to you?” Clint stood in the doorway with his hands deep in the pockets of his jeans, his eyes locked on Nat’s.

Steve didn’t say anything, but he got up and left before thoughtfully squeezing Nat’s shoulder.

Clint sat next to Nat on the bed.

“You know my names not really Natasha.” Nat said.

“What?”

“Oh I’m sorry,” she let out a breathy laugh, “I thought we were exchanging secrets we never intended on mentioning to each other.”

“Nat-”

“No, don’t ‘Nat’ me,” she now looked him in the eye, “when were you going to decide to tell me you are engaged.”

“Soon,” Clint voice was quiet.

“Somehow I struggle to believe that.” Nat left Clint side and started pacing, speaking again when she didn’t get a response. “Why did Steve tell me you didn’t have a choice?” She stopped walking.

“It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got time.” She crossed her arms.

“About halfway through my second year both my parents died and I was sent to a foster home.” Clint shuffled awkwardly in his seat for a moment. Nat guessed it had been a long time before he would have to tell this story again, but she stayed silent which meant he carried on. “My parents didn’t have a lot of money to leave me, about enough to pay for the rest of the school year, then I would have had to leave. My foster parents refused to help with the costs, they thought the idea of paying to go to school was ridiculous and said that they would send me to a community school when my money ran out. I know it sounds stupid, but I love this school and leaving would mean I leave Tony, Steve and Bruce, which I could never do. Bruce and Steve wanted to help, but the money they had to give was nowhere near enough. Tony was confident he could fix this mess by asking his parents for money for me, he always went on how they just kept vaults of cash and did nothing with it. But Tony’s parent weren’t easy and only agreed to give me the money I need to stay at Shield if I marry their daughter, Laura, when we finish school. Tony hated the idea, not of me marrying Laura, but how his father always twisted everything in his own favour. I think that was the beginning of a life-long hatred that Tony was to have of his father. They have only ever been civil since. Tony tried to persuade me not to take the deal, he said that he’ll find a way to steal the money or something, but I was desperate, and I couldn’t leave my friends. So I agreed to it. If I refused, I wouldn’t be at Shield today…and I never would have met you.”

It was only when Clint had finished that Nat noticed that she had moved to sit next to him again, and that she had tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Clint I…I didn’t know-” She chocked.

“It’s okay,” he reassured, reaching to her cheek to wipe away her tears, before putting his arm around her, “I’m going to get out of this mess. I’m going to work all summer and the next one and however many more to pay Tony’s dad back and-”

“Do you love her?” Nat asked between sniffles.

“I…no, I don’t.” Nat could feel Clint’s grip on her tighten and she moved closer to him.

“Does she love you?”

“She won’t even look me in the eye.” Nat saw Clint’s head drop a little, and moved his chin up with her fingers, so he was looking at her, but he wasn’t looking at her eyes, he was looking at her lips, and she realised she was looking at his. She could see a few cuts where he bit them, but they weren’t cracked, and Nat wanted to kiss them all a thousand times.

“Tasha.” Clint whispered, leaning in closer. It was only when they were almost touching, that Nat quickly pulled away.

“I…I can’t.”  

“Please…”

It was only when she pushed his shoulders back, that she realised he had his eyes closed. “You know this can’t happen.” Nat had to take a long breath and a hard look at Clint before she said what she was thinking, but didn’t want to say. “Maybe we could try being just…friends?”

Immediately, she could see spots of light dim in the boy’s green eyes and she wanted nothing more than to pull him into an embrace that lasted forever, but instead she interlocked her fingers.

“You’re right,” he chocked, standing up now, but he didn’t take his eyes off her. It was only when he got to the door that he couldn’t look any longer. “So I’ll see you later then?”  Nat knew he was trying so hard to stop his voice from shaking, but it was like she could hear his pain after each word.

“Yeah.”

 

If Natasha had knew that it would have been a long time after that day that her and Clint would _really_ talk, then she wouldn’t have even let that door close. She would have crashed into his arms, never taking her lips off his, but she didn’t know. She didn’t know a damn thing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you all liked this one!! As always kudos and comments are much appreciated and you can find me on instagram: @b.uckyboo say hi! ^_^


	11. I'm the only one that understands her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a trip to the hospital

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *TRIGGER WARNING SELF HARM INFERRED*

“WAIT BUT I THOUGHT THEY WERE BROTHER AND SISTER.”

“They are.” Nat stated, trying to stifle a giggle.

“I can’t believe you watch this.” Steve said, despite his eyes being glued to Nat’s laptop, as was Tony’s.

“And that’s only the first episode,” said Nat, smiling a little and turning to Clint, but his eyes were fixed on his phone screen. Even if he didn’t have earphones in, she wouldn’t attempt to talk to him.

“They should call it Game of Incest, not Game of Thrones,” said Tony, his eyes widening in exaggerated horror.

It was only when Bruce burst into the room without holding cups of coffee, that everyone’s eyes were de-glued from a screen. The boy was breathing heavily and seemed to have forgot why he entered the room in the rush of the moment, then his eyes went wide and he started tugging on Steve’s arm.

“Its…Its Pietro,” he started, now pulling Tony and Clint to stand, “he’s…he’s…come with me.” He couldn’t seem to form a proper sentence and Nat expected the other boys to laugh at their friend’s little episode, but no one cracked a smile.

“Well take us to him then!” Clint shouted after a pause as Bruce caught his breath.

 

Nat had only really had one conversation with Pietro, and since he immediately knew she was a girl, she found herself speeding up as they gang approached him, not wanting to get on his bad side. Then she saw him, and she wished she never said a word.

He was curled up in the corner of his bedroom, his desk at first shielding his face, before Clint pushed it to the side. Nat wanted to say she had never seen so much blood, but she had, way more than this, but that didn’t make what she saw any less terrifying. The silver-haired boy couldn’t stop shaking, his head hanging low and was constantly switching between looking at each of his red stained wrists.

Everyone seemed to have frozen, and it was like Nat had stopped time and only she could move.

“Clint, I need you to get me towels,” she said, crouching down to the bleeding boy’s level and taking hold of his arms, “a lot of them.”

Without reply, Clint stormed out of the room.

She began turning his wrists, and although Pietro kept silent, she could feel him wincing.

“Tony, get alcohol,” she ordered, “and Steve, get antiseptic.”

The two boys gave a quick nod and left.

“Pietro,” Nat whispered, placing one hand on the boy’s shoulder and tried to keep it steady there, despite noticing him trying to make eye contact, “you don’t need to tell me why, but I’m going to help you, okay?” She went to dip her head to try and catch his eyes, but they met her first, tear stained and puffy.

Now that their eyes were locked, neither of them could look anywhere else, nor move.

“I’m sorry.” He could barely speak, his eyes rolling a little, his skin turning whiter.

_I can’t wait for towels_ , she thought and before she realised what she was doing, she was removing her shirt and screwing it up, pressing it on the boy’s wrists.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so-”

“Shhh,” Nat tried to sooth him, but kept increasing the pressure, trying to ignore the boy crying harder and shaking more violently.

“I can’t see her anymore.” At first, Nat wanted to quieten him again, then she realised what he said. He was talking about his sister. She didn’t stop him talking again. “They’re not letting me see her…says she’s too sick.”

Pietro slumped further down the wall and Nat had to hold his chin up so he wouldn’t collapse. “I can’t leave her…she’s all I have…please.”

“I promise, you will see your sister again.”

The silence was broken by the door bursting open, and Clint throwing towels at Nat, who quickly swapped them for her shirt, before putting the blood stained top back on.

Tony and Steve entered quickly after, followed by Bruce who had before gone with them. Pietro almost finished the bottle of whiskey as Nat began cleaning his wounds with the antiseptic and stitching up the cuts with the first aid kit Bruce gave her.

Clint was the first one to leave the room, once Pietro stopped drinking and had now conjured enough strength to sit on his bed. Steve was the last to go, before giving Nat a shoulder squeeze and a reassuring look at Pietro.

“You know I’m the oldest,” The boy said, still trying to catch his breath. It didn’t even take Nat a second to know who he was talking about.

“I thought you were twins?”

“Well, I’m twelve minutes older,” he said, before dipping his head a little and Nat quickly rose to sit next to him, her arms around his shoulders to steady him.  “I need to get her back, she can stay in my room.” He was looking at her desperately, like he was waiting for some sort of approval, “I don’t have a roommate, and I’ll sleep on the floor. I’m the only one that understands her.” Then Nat felt the boy leave her grip, and in a matter of seconds he was standing and looking for a jacket.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to get her back, tonight.”

 

Nat hadn’t checked the time, but she guessed it was late, and expected Steve to be in bed when she opened the door.

“What did he say to you?” He jumped up from his slumped position on his desk chair.

Nat was too tired to tell him he should be in bed. For some reason, she sometimes felt like she need to look after Steve, for Sam, and for Bucky. “He’s getting Wanda back.”

Steve turned to look at the open window behind him, and Nat knew he heard the same footsteps she did, and hastily stormed past him to slam the window shut.

“And we’re going to help him.” Nat knew Steve wasn’t asking, and saw the small boy reach for his khaki jacket, before throwing Nat her own yellow one. The two gave a nod, before opening the door, finding that they were not alone.

“We’re coming with you.” It was when Tony almost fell forward that Nat knew that he and Bruce had had their ears pressed against the door.

“What did you have to do to Stark to get him to help Pietro, Bruce?” Nat asked.

“He didn’t have to say anything.” Tony cut in before Bruce could answer, stepping out of the way for Nat and Steve to walk through.

They all turned towards Pietro’s room a few doors down, but Bruce faced the other way.

“What about Barton?”

“He already knows,” Nat said, not looking back, “he’s not coming.”

Despite the mysterious response, none of the boys questioned her, it was only Steve who reached for her hand to squeeze it.

“He was on the roof wasn’t he?” He whispered to her once they were a few feet in front.

Nat returned the squeeze, before letting go of his hand and reaching up to knock on Pietro’s door, but it opened before her knuckles touched the wood.

The silver haired boy’s eyes widened at the sight of the four of them at his door. Nat suddenly felt herself shrink at little, feeling guilty as if she’d spilt his secret of wanting to get Wanda back. Instead, he stepped forward and pulled Nat into a hug, squeezing her tight.

“Thank you.” Nat heard his mumble into her hair.

 

Despite it being a few hours past midnight, there were still a few lights glowing through the windows of Sokovia Mental Hospital. Nat saw Pietro make no hesitation in deciding what window to start towards, and she wondered how many times he had done this before when the hospital stopped letting him stay overnight. Just as the boy was about the climb the wall, he jerked away from it, noticing the barbed wire.

“Shit.” He muttered.

“That’s a bit extreme isn’t it?” Nat proclaimed, but she saw Steve push past her.

“I can climb it.” He exclaimed.

“Steve, are you sure?” Bruce asked, starting forward as if to hold his friend back.

“Yeah!” It warmed Nat’s heart to see his face light up at the thought of being useful, “Sam had me do army cadet training one summer. I don’t remember being too bad. Plus, I’m small so it will be harder for the security cameras to spot me.”

“He’s got a good point.” Tony said, turning to Bruce who stepped back now.

“She’s the second window up, with the lights on.” Pietro told Steve, a look of worry plastered across his face.

Nat made the effort to reach to her friend and squeeze his shoulder before he began to climb. It took a matter of seconds before towering trees had covered him from sight.

 

Nat only realised she had fell asleep when she felt Pietro spring up at her side when the barbed wire wall rattled.

“I’ve got her, but I can’t carry her down.” She heard Steve call from above. It was like Pietro didn’t give a second thought before he began to climb the wall, Nat tensing every time the metal spikes went through his hands. His speed meant he was too high before she, or Tony or Bruce could stop him.

It felt like an eternity before the two boys climbed down, Pietro with an unconscious Wanda in his arms. As soon as Pietro hit the ground, he almost fell, but Bruce and Steve rushed to his side, putting his arms around each of their shoulders whilst Nat took Wanda from him.

“We need to get him back.” Steve said and the rest walked as fast as they could back to Shield.

 

“Where will you sleep?” Nat asked as she laid Wanda onto the one bed Pietro had in his room. 

“I’ll be fine on the floor.” Pietro reassured, wincing as he lowered himself to the floor to lean against the bed, holding his patched up hands.

“At least try and get some sleep,” Nat said, moving towards the door, “you’ve lost a lot of blood today.”

Pietro nodded and turned to his sleeping sister. He must have thought Nat had already left, as he planted a kiss on Wanda’s forehead, before Nat softly closed the door.

She turned to find Steve waiting for her.

“Bruce and Tony went back to their rooms, but they wanted me to make sure Pietro was ok.”

“He will be.” Nat said as the two walked back to their room.

“I can’t believe him.” She blurted out as they approached the door, Steve diving into his pockets for the keys, before unlocking it. She didn’t think if Clint was still on the roof or not.

“Nat-”

“No, Pietro is his friend.” She felt herself grow hot with anger, “he should have been there.”

“But that would mean being with you.” Steve said, launching himself onto Nat’s bed, relaxing his hands at the back of his neck.

“I can’t be that special.”  

“To him you are.”

“And how would you know?” Nat stopped her pacing when she was facing away from Steve, so she could conceal the tears that escaped her eyes. “Did he tell you that?”

“He didn’t have to.” Steve said, before yawning and slowly closing his eyes.        

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the lack of Clint in this chapter, but i wanted to do a chapter dedicated to Pietro a little. I hope you all enjoyed it and as always kudos and comments are much appreciated! ^_^


	12. The Jar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint's secret and costume ideas

 

“I’m just saying it wouldn’t hurt for them to order in a pizza every now and again.” Steve said, eyeing up his cold mashed potato before reluctantly shoving it into his mouth.

“Maybe they’re trying to poison us.” Nat suggested, continuing to push her peas around her plate with her fork.

“Or maybe they have added in a serum that is slowly taking over our brains until we are mind-controlled soldiers who are trained to take over the world.” Bruce said calming, keeping his eyes fixed on his book. Nat noticed his food was untouched.

“Are you reading _Divergent_?” Steve asked, trying to grab the book from his friend’s hand, before he quickly shoved it into his bag.

“It’s for school ok…”

Nat giggled as she saw the wavy-haired boy try to cover his reddening cheeks.

Clint was the only one who seemed to be eating his lunch with no struggle and Nat could see Bruce about to pick up on it, but his mouth abruptly closed from a kick from Steve under the table.

In order to avoid a silence Nat knew was coming, she let her eyes search for Tony, finding him talking to a boy with golden hair a few tables down.

“What’s Tony doing talking to, what’s his name, Thor?”

Bruce and Steve’s heads jerk up to their friend, enthusiastically talking to their not-so-much-friend. As soon as Bruce saw Tony holding an envelope his hand, his shoulders fell.

“He’s handing out invites.” He said in a monotone face, copying the way Nat was playing with her food.

“I’m going to go to archery,” Clint said abruptly, getting up from the table, “I’ll see you guys later.” He didn’t make eye contact with anyone.

“Tony’s having a party?” Nat asked, nudging Bruce. She had to keep the conversation going; it was the only thing stopping her from running after Clint right now.

“He has one every year,” Steve said, pushing his lunch to the edge of the table, collecting Bruce’s and Natasha’s and piling them on top, “plus his birthday party.”

“So it’s a Halloween party then?” Nat tried not to think about the three weeks she had gone without saying a word to Clint.

“Yep, and he has a theme for what we have to dress up as a group every time.” Bruce said, smiling as he watched Tony fail in convincing Thor and his group to accept the envelopes.

“What was last years?”

The two boys exchanged a look, and suddenly Steve found it difficult not to burst from stifling laughter.

“Bruce, what was it?”

Bruce took a deep sigh before speaking. “The _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_.”

Steve managed to control himself and carried on. “I was Michelangelo, Bruce was Donatello, Tony was Leonardo and Clint was Raphael.”

“At least he can’t do that this year now we have Nat.”

Before Steve could start suggesting famous groups of five, Tony skipped over, holding four golden envelopes in his hands.

“What’s with the gold?” Nat asked, “If we are going as the kids from _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ , I am _not_ going to be the girl who turns into a giant blueberry.”

“What a wonderful idea, Natasha!” Tony’s face lit up as he took his seat next to Bruce, handing out each of the envelopes. He stopped when Clint wasn’t there to receive his. “Where’s Barton?”

“Gone archery.” Steve said, looking at Nat as if he was expecting her to start sobbing uncontrollably or something.

“I thought archery was Thursdays?”

“Timetable changed!” Bruce cut in quickly, and immediately tried to change the subject. “Plus, I always thought Nat would be that snobby girl who wanted a squirrel.” This was followed by a sharp kick from Nat under the table.

“Look,” Tony started, getting everyone’s reluctant attention, “the envelopes are VIP invites to the party.” He said with pride.

“Does VIP mean more booze?” Nat asked.

“Yes.”

“Great, I’m sold.” Steve sprung up with joy, grabbing the envelope.

“Also before anyone says anything,” Tony shoved Clint’s envelope at Bruce and stood, “Barton’s coming whether you,” he nodded at Nat, “or himself, likes it or not.” He dramatically whipped his head and proceeding to tour the canteen.

 

Nat waited until the teacher stormed out the ICT room to turn to Bruce.

“Why was Tony asking Thor and his group to come to the party?” She asked, feeling Steve at her side leaning in. “I thought he hated him?”

“Tony likes to think of this party as does as the event of the year,” Bruce proclaimed, vaugly eyeballing his word document of coding notes, “and expects pretty much the whole year group to attend.”

“But he really only likes us.” Steve cut in, with a big smile on his face.

“Then why can’t we just hang out or something, rather than have a big party with people Tony doesn’t even like?” Nat leant back on her chair to check if the door was closed and turned her computer screen off so she could see her reflection; her scarlet hair was tucked into a cap tight. Everyone else in the classroom was either asleep or having their own conversations. Nat thought about mentioning the fact that she couldn’t see Pietro, remembering that he was in her ICT class, but held her tongue.

“Sometimes we simply aren’t enough for Tony.” Bruce said matter-of-factly and Nat felt herself turn red with resent.

“What do you mean not enough?”

“Don’t take it personally Nat,” Steve said, scooting his chair so he was now in between Nat and Bruce, “the only people Tony sees on a daily basis at home are the cleaners and chefs.”

“Where are his parents?”

“On holidays?” Steve says with a questioning look directed at Bruce, whose eyes widen at the attention.

“His father is in China at the moment,” he started, “whether that’s business or pleasure Tony’s father didn’t specify.” Bruce noticed Nat’s troubled look. “Don’t worry,” he reassured, “if something was really up with Tony, I’d know.” He placed a hand on her shoulder and he flashed him a smile.

“We normally just hang out in Tony’s bedroom,” Steve said, nudging Nat’s elbow playfully, “we’re the only ones allowed upstairs.”

“Do you think Clint will come?” Nat blurted out; she wanted to kick herself for mentioning him.

The two boys immediately looked at Nat like she was an orphaned puppy.

“Whatever,” she muttered, “it’s not like we’d even make eye contact there anyways.”

She gathered her things and stormed out the room seconds before end of school bell rang.

 

Steve walked quicker to the school gates at the end of that day, hoping to catch up with Nat, but she was out of sight. He’d almost wished that he could call Bucky and just see him, but he was in a meeting. As he passed the alley where his boyfriend would meet him, he heard a loud grunt and the noise of rustling trees. It was only when he saw the broken arrow on the footpath floor and Steve knew exactly who it was, and ran down the path until he saw Clint kicking one of the old oak trees on the other side of the school fence that bordered the field. When the boy’s feet started missing its target, he rested his forehead against the bark.

“Clint?” Steve shuffled forward, collecting the snapped arrows as he moved.

Clint kept his eyes closed, but Steve didn’t need to see his puffy cheeks to know one of his best friends had been crying. “You dropped these.” He showed him the arrows, before finding Clint’s bag and stuffing them in.

Steve thought about touching his friend’s shoulder, but didn’t move his hand. Instead, he slid down the tree and sat at its foot, leaning against the trunk.

“Did I ever tell you why I don’t want to go to university?” Steve asked, tilting his head up at Clint whose shoulder were shaking. It took a lot to restrain himself from dragging him down into a hug. “Before they died, from the moment my mother fell pregnant, my parents put aside money for me to go to university. It was in a big jar, like the ones in those old fashioned sweet shops. When I was taken in by a foster family, the only belongings of mine they were given was the jar, with a note inside that only I could read first. It said that the money in the jar was to only be used for university and nothing else: it felt like it was my parents’ dying wish, you know? It’s actually the only thing I have to remember them by, it silly I know, but it was in my father’s handwriting, well I’m guessing it was my father’s. My first thought was to use the money to pay for Shield attendance, since my foster parents had no interest in paying for school, but there was always that speck of guilt that stopped me. That money is for university not school. You’re probably hoping for me to get to the point now, so I will. When I first received the money, I looked online for the nearest university: it was a five hours drive away, meaning I would have to move. It would mean I couldn’t live with Sam anymore. It would mean that I would be able to see Bucky anymore. It would mean that I would lose you guys, and you of all people know how I was feeling at the thought of that. It might have seemed quick, but from then I knew that I would never go university. When I finish school, I’ll carry on living with Sam until I get a job and then move in with Buck. But there was one thing I never decided fully on: what to do with the money. Every time I tried to spend it, something would hold me back, like the reason I was spending the money wasn’t good enough. So I kept it, the jar, in my room, but could never bring myself to open the lid. I almost want to punch myself that I only thought of this last night, but I finally decided what to do with the money. I am giving the money to you, Clint.”

It was only when Steve finished that he realised his friend has dropped to sit beside him, a look of utter shock plastered on his face.

“Steve, I can’t-”

“Don’t argue with me.” Steve smiled. He could see Clint tried to hold back oncoming tears, and didn’t struggle when he pulled Steve into a hug, a really long hug.

“Thank you.” Steve heard Clint say into his friend’s shoulder.

“Just kiss her at the bloody party.” Steve replied, hearing Clint exhale with a laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was meaning to upload this chapter and a couple more earlier since the chapter after this one will be Tony's halloween party, but hey ho school sucks. So i hope you enjoyed this one and future ones to come! Maybe they can help you cling on to October because dont lie who doesnt miss it. As always comments and kudos are appreciated. Thank you guys for taking the time to read this fic ;))   
> You can find me on instagram @b.uckyboo


	13. Well you've seen me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the night of the halloween party, but no one's in the mood for dressing up

“Do you think a bouncy castle with my face on it would be too much?” Tony asked, scavenging in the fridge.

Everyone was at Tony’s house. He claimed that they all offered to help him plan his Halloween party, but, in reality, it was only after he bribed them with pizza and Netflix, that they agreed to come on their free period.

“Do any of you actually live far away enough to have a proper reason to live in the dorms at school?” Nat asked, sinking herself in Tony massage chair in the corner of the living room. “And what is it with rich people and open-plan?”

“Excuse me I am _not_ rich.” Tony argued, slamming the fridge shut once he found his chocolate stash, throwing all of them a bar each.

“You’re joking right?” Clint said, spinning on one of the bar stools, still being careful not to make eye contact with Natasha.

“My father’s the one who’s rich…” Tony muttered.

“Think fast!” Bruce called, chucking Tony his iPad. Nat saw that Bruce only smiled once Tony’s shoulders had relaxed again.

“So far I’ve got about a hundred people. Now, I know that’s slightly less than last year, but certain _people_ are refusing to attend what will be the party of the year.”  

“I say the party will be better without He-Man and his little sidekicks around.” Steve said, catching a diet coke Tony threw at him, before taking a seat on the bar stool next to Clint.

“What about you have something like buckets of sweet dotted around the house?” Nat suggested.

“Hmm, I don’t know…” Tony voice was distant, his eyes lost in his iPad, as he sipped coke from a strawberry straw.

“I think having the sweet buckets is a cool idea.” Bruce encouraged, speaking a little louder so Tony’s head shot up.

“That’s a wonderful idea Brucey!” He said enthusiastically, and Nat felt the urge to roll her eyes, but instead let out a breathy laugh when Tony winked at her after he spoke.

The group only realised Steve had left the room when he came back with a cardboard box in his hands that covered most of his body.

“Hey Tony,” he called, his voice slightly muffle, “what’s in the box?”

“Ahh!” The Stark boy jumped off his seat, leaving his drink and tablet on the kitchen counter, before taking the box off Steve and placing it on the floor. The others gathered round it in a circle.

“Scissors.” Tony demanded, and Bruce darted to kitchen and was back in the circle in seconds, handing the sharp object to Stark.

“What are they?” Steve asked eagerly as Tony opened the box. They all leaned in and collectively let out a sigh. 

They were balloons, with nothing but a picture of Tony Stark sporting the cheesiest smile ever.

 

* * *

 

There were all but two benefits of a biology lesson at Shield Academy: no matter what teacher you had, they would always spend the lesson making the students watch a series of videos, resulting in the opportunity to do absolutely nothing, and the second being the only person Natasha shared these classes with was Bruce. As much as Nat appreciated Steve’s continued concern, Tony’s surprisingly consistent sarcasm and Clint impressive skill of avoidance, she tended to often look forward to her biology lessons with Bruce. With a small class of ten, it meant that the two friends were able to claim a medium sized table to themselves, positioned strategically in the back corner of the classroom. She and Bruce never really talked in these lessons, the hour mainly consisted of Bruce being the only student paying attention and making notes from the video, meaning the only skill Nat was required to use was the art of copying. Anyone might expect that this would make the lesson awkward between the two of them, and that they were expected to engage in conversation in order to be labelled as ‘good friends’, but Nat knew that she, and Bruce, were perfectly content in the set-up that they had. It meant Nat had time to think, without worrying that someone would catch her not paying attention.

She knew that she should and will probably not have a choice but go to Tony’s party, but God would she rather stay at her dorm in a blanket burrito. As much as Nat hated to admit it, and she never would out loud, she missed Clint. When she thought about spontaneously kissing him at the party and running away with him, even she was rolling her eyes at herself. There was a reason she stayed away from boys, and since that was the only thing the girls she knew talked about, she tended to steer clear of them too. Natasha never met her parents and was told that they died. Other children who were told this might have imagined some emotional and romantic cliché of how their parents met and spent their cut-short lives together, but never Natasha. She knew it was them who signed the contract that meant she was to be raised in…the place she was raised. Even inside her head, she not once admitted who she was, who they made her. She was convinced that they never really got inside her mind, that it was all an act until she could escape, but there was always that part of her that craved that old life, craved the _violence_. When those jerks where going to beat up Steve, she felt like there was a hurricane force pushing her towards the fight, pushing her to do something far worse than wounding. She hated being called weak, but that was how she had to behave. She couldn’t save her friends; she couldn’t get herself into heated arguments: she was trapped, desperate to give in to the urges that felt like slices down her back, every day.

“Hey,” Bruce whispered. Nat touched her face and felt her wet cheeks: she couldn’t stop herself going red.

“I’m fine,” she choked before Bruce could ask and packed up her things, leaving the classroom a second before the bell, leaving her friend behind.

 

* * *

 

“Clint please open the door.” Steve rested his head against the door of his friend’s room, where he had been consistently knocking for fifteen minutes now. “You’ve been avoiding me, avoiding everyone, since I told you I’d give you the money.”

“I don’t want it.” A muffled voice was heard from the other side of the door.  

“Look,” Steve’s tone deepened and he moved so his mouth was in front of the small gap between the door and the door frame, “you don’t have to stay for long. Just show up at Tony’s and say hi, then say you’ve got to go. Come on, Clint. You’ve never missed one of his parties.”

Steve received no reply and gave up, dragging his feet back to his room, hoping that Nat wouldn’t be standing there, asking where he had been.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Lucky for Nat, she heard her roommate’s footsteps before he let himself into their room, giving her time to cover up her puffy eyes.

“Nat, you here?” She heard him call as Steve closed the door behind him, fiddling with the keys before shoving them in his pocket.

“So you’re the key master for tonight.” Nat checked herself one more time in the bathroom mirror, making sure she looked like she was fine, before stepping out. Her friend wore a blue and white checked shirt with the top button done up, black skinny jeans clinging to his legs. He had combed his hair, but she guessed it didn’t go to plan since it was still sticking up in places. When Nat thought about what she was going to wear to Tony’s party, she found it more difficult than expected, which sounded stupid to her since she had never been to a party before, so how _would_ she know how to dress? In the end, she sported jeans almost identical to Steve’s, expect for holes at the knees, and a scarlet t-shirt knotted at the front, layered with a leather jacket.

“Let’s just say I’m the one with the keys because I’ll be the one that’ll be able to walk in a straight line at the end of the night.”    

“Whatever,” Nat shrugged, “isn’t this supposed to be a Halloween party anyway?”

“Well, the last time Tony heard from Clint, he said he wasn’t going tonight, and with Tony it’s all of us looking stupid or none of us.” Steve had opened the door before he spoke, and turned to look at Clint’s door again when he mentioned his name. There was a pause, as if they were both waiting to see if Clint had heard them and had a change of heart, but the door to the boy’s room remained closed. Steve turned back to look at Nat, who was trying to give him a realistic smile; she could never fool Steve. “Come on,” her friend said, linking his arm with hers, “Tony will kill us if we’re any later than we already are.”

 

 

* * *

 

“They’re late!” Tony had been repeating the same phrase several times now, pacing in a circle around the island in the kitchen, with Bruce giving him a square of Milky Bar chocolate every time his friend passed where he sat.

“That’s your fault for expecting them to arrive an hour before the party’s due to start.” Bruce had set up his laptop on the table, a live feed of the security camera located outside the front door playing on the screen.  

“Any sign of Barton?” Tony had stopped walking now, and stood behind Bruce’s chair, his elbow resting on his friend’s shoulder, looking intensely at the screen.

“Nothing.” Tony moved away, launching himself into an arm chair. The boy’s eyelids were drooping a little and he let out an exhale as he started to draw circles with his fingers on the fabric. “Maybe we should still have a group costume this year.” Bruce suggested, trying to cheer up his friend. “After all, it wasn’t like Clint liked dressing up.”

Tony’s head cocked up for a moment, as if considering Bruce’s idea, but quickly shook his head, his russet eyebrows forming a frown. “I want everyone to know that Clint isn’t here.” He flicked his brown eyes to look at Bruce. It had been a long time, Bruce thought, since he saw his friend look so serious about something. “He’s one of us, Bruce, which means we can’t be _us_ without him.”

Bruce didn’t reply, but gave a nod instead, swinging his stool to look at the screen, noticing that it didn’t look so frozen anymore.

“They’re here!”

 

* * *

 

 

Natasha stopped a few metres away from Tony Stark’s front door, noticing the security camera.

“Nat?” Steve had walked a few steps before noticing her stillness.

“I want you to keep an eye on me tonight.” Nat didn’t look at Steve, she kept her eyes fixed on the camera, and shuffled a few centimetres back to make sure she was out of shot.

“What do you mean?” He asked, shooting her a puzzled look.

“I plan to drink a lot tonight,” she said quietly, “and I don’t want it to get out of control.”

“Nat, have you-” But before Steve could say anymore, Nat was already at the front door, being greeted by Tony and Bruce.

 

* * *

 

 

“At least say hi to a _few_ people.” Steve’s speech was slightly slurred and gripped Nat’s sunken shoulder with his left hand, a red paper cup placed in his right. The party had been going on for an hour, and Nat still hadn’t left the kitchen and was on her second bottle of whiskey. She heard distant laughter and banging over the rock music Tony had playing. She scanned the room to see if she and Steve were alone, but relaxed when she saw Bucky leaning against the doorway, his tired eyes lovingly fixed on his boyfriend. _Good_ , Natasha thought, _at least Steve won’t be stuck with me for the night_.

“Go to Bucky.” She whispered to her friend, before downing her glass of whiskey: she had lost count of what number she was on.

“Maybe you should slow down a bit.” Bucky warned, moving into the room, throwing an arm around Steve, his other pushing the bottle of whiskey out of Nat’s reach.

Steve could feel the tug of Bucky’s arm on him, but leaned over to Nat before he left the room. “Don’t give up hope,” he said, “maybe he’ll come.”

 

* * *

 

 

It was edging towards 1 am and the number of guests began to decrease, but there were still a good couple dozen. _Third bottle down_ , Nat thought and smashed the glass against the edge of the kitchen island, cutting her fingers. Scarlet blood trickled down her fingers, but she felt no pain, she had felt worse. She began to rotate her hand as the blood ran down her hand, making swirling patterns. When she heard footsteps, she quickly moved her hand so it was against her back, the blood beginning to stain her jacket.

“You okay?” It was Tony. Natasha has expected him to have some stupid, drunk look on his face, his hands occupying two empty beer bottles, but his hands were empty and dug deep in his pockets. He looked alert, awake: he looked sober.

“Yeah, I’m fiiine.” Natasha slurred, wanting to roll her eyes at how ridiculous she sounded, but instead flashed a toothy grin in an attempt to mask her pain.

“I heard glass smashing.” Tony moved in closer and Nat saw the deep shade of purple that shadowed the boy’s eyes.

“Maybe you’ve had too much to drink.” Nat stumbled back nervously, her eyes and nose scrunching at the sound of her boots stepping on the shards of glass.

“Okay,” Tony relented. He spun on his heels and made his way back to the living room area, before turning his head to side and saying, “just tell me if you leave, okay.”

“Yes, sssir.” Nat saluted him and waited until the door was shut before turning to look at her hand.

The wound was worse than she remembered: the cut had now widened to an inch.

“I need to get out of here before someone else comes in.” She said to herself and clumsily grabbed a bunch of kitchen roll with her non-bleeding hand, before bursting out of the back door, leading to a small alley-way that linked the front garden to the back. Natasha looked both ways twice before falling, her exposed knees grazing as they collided with the concrete. Despite knowing she was alone, Nat refused to cry. She felt so pathetic, like her reason for acting this way wasn’t good enough.

Before Shield, she never really had _friends_ , and she was okay with that; she didn’t know what she was missing. But when she met these four dorks two months ago it finally hit her, and when she realised she wanted something more from Clint, it was the first time she had smiled in a long time without faking it.

Nat almost laughed at herself now at the way she felt then, like there would be no more pain anymore. And the only person she can think of blaming is herself; she dove in too deep, got too attached to something that was so new to her.

She eyed up her hand and, realising that there was still wet blood, compromised her new top and soaked it with the red liquid in an attempt to make the cut look better than it was for just enough time to wrap and tie the wound with the kitchen roll. She let out a long exhale before standing, her legs shaking a little and then more violently, until the point where she had to physically steady them with her hands. She wondered if she had stayed too long for anyone to care if she just disappeared again…

“Tasha?” Nat wanted to fall apart when she heard Clint say her name right after she bumped into him.

“Didn’t think you were coming.” She said, her back facing him, her wounded hand close to her stomach to conceal it from him.

“I wanted to see you.” She felt him edging closer and panicked when she saw her legs begin to wobble again.

“Well you’ve seen me.” She replied quickly before darting off.

This time she didn’t hear any footsteps following her.

 

* * *

 

 

Steve waited until the last of the guests had filed out of the house, when it was just Tony, Bruce and himself.

“Guess Barton didn’t come after all.” Tony remarked solemnly, sulkily kicking a beer bottle on the floor.

Bruce opened his mouth, about to try to cheer his friend up, when Steve realised something.

“Hey guys, where’s Nat?”

“She’s probably in the kitchen still.” Bruce said dismissively, picking up a large black plastic bag and began filling it with empty paper cups. Tony collapsed into the same arm chair he was in before the night began.

Steve strode into the kitchen and froze, losing all control of his hand, letting his empty beer bottle smash on the tiles. At the sound, Bruce and Tony came rushing in.

 

“Is that…” Tony couldn’t finish.

“ _Blood._ ” Bruce said gravely, being the first to move, inspecting the mixture of whiskey and blood spilled on the counter top, mixed with broken glass.

“Shit, shit, shit.” Steve began pacing the room, his fingers ruffling his golden hair. “She told me to keep an eye on her, and I didn’t. What if something happened to her? I was supposed to take her home! What if something _bad_ happened to her? Oh God, oh God…” His breathing got quicker, his eyes stinging.

Tony gripped his friend’s shoulders with both his hands, making the blond boy look him in the eye. Bruce was standing beside Tony, flicking his eyes between the two boys, his face painted with the same degree of worry as the others.

“We’ll find her.” Tony tried to reassure his friends, but he knew he was just as terrified as Steve was.    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like it's been aaaages since i've posted a chapter, so sorry about that! School has been super busy, but my mock exams will be over soon and I'll try to upload another chapter during christmas break. And i know i know, halloween was ages ago, but i started writing this chapter like mid October and only just finished it today. Anyways i hope you like this one and as always kudos and comments are much appreciated!! 
> 
> Instagram: @b.uckyboo


	14. We're here to take you home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even though she wished that no one would find her tonight, at the same time, Natasha longed for a familiar face right now.

The blood that matted her frizzed hair closely matched its scarlet tone. Copper eyes with specks of lava stared back at her when he looked in the bathroom mirror of her dorm; the mars-like patterns of the irises appeared alien to her. Her dark pupils widened a fraction when she realised she had left the house earlier that night without her baseball cap, letting her hair flow free, but it was obvious that that was the least of Natasha’s worries at that moment. The crimson leather jacket she wore was now ripped at the elbows, the zip clearly broken and stuck at her waist. Her skin felt rough, dried snot crusted around her nostrils and displayed the colour that was a mixture of wine and moss. Her chewed lips were bleeding in several places and burned ruby from bruising.

She flicked her eyes down to look at her wounded hand: the kitchen towel was completely soaked with blood, but she didn’t feel any pain. The free tears falling down her cheeks warned her she was close to breaking down, and it was safe to because she was alone. But she couldn’t do it. It would be like telling herself it was okay to be weak, to let your demons win and destroy her, and she wouldn’t do that to herself. It was only when she heard footsteps from the dorm next door that she remembered she wasn’t the only one in the building. If she broke down, she wouldn’t be able to control it, the sobbing…shaking…

The jingling of keys jolted her to move and she made the decision in seconds: no one was going to see her like this. Her legs carried her to the window that led to the roof and she hastily closed it behind her just in time for Steve to burst into the room.

“Nat!” She heard her friend shout, but she couldn’t bring herself to look over her shoulder and kept her back pressed against the wall next to the window. She looked to her left: Clint’s window was open. Determined to keep moving and remain undiscovered, Nat shuffled slowly to the edge of the roof and felt relief wash over her when she saw a wall trellis entwined with vines. She climbed down slowly, and within seconds on hitting the floor she scurried into an alley next to the building.

“Shit” she whispered when she realised she had left her phone in the room and instead brought her unwounded wrist to look at her watch; it was 3 am. _Maybe if I just go for a walk for a while…_ she thought, shoving her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket. She ducked her head before moving into the open and began walking, although it felt more like her feet were dragging the rest of her aching body. 

 

* * *

 

“Tony!” Steve was now screaming down the phone to his friend when he came home to an empty dorm room. “She’s not here! What about you and Bruce?”

“Nothing.” Steve heard Bruce’s voice from a distance on the other line.

“Guys what if something serious has happened?” Steve began running through all the worst case scenarios and shuddered.

“Steve calm down,” Tony reassured, but the wobble in his voice wasn’t fooling Steve, “we’ll find her.”

Steve ended the call and before he knew what he was doing, he threw his phone at the window. He felt his breathing quicken and tried to relax, stopping his legs from breaking out into a frantic pace.

“Okay, okay, okay…” He mumbled under his breath and slowly stalked across the room to retrieve his cracked phone. Then his heart skipped a beat. The phone had landed on the window sill and Steve cocked his head in confusion when he noticed the window slightly ajar. Whenever Steve and Nat would leave the dorm, Steve always make sure all the windows were shut. This wasn’t a mistake. A smile almost found its way across the blond boy’s face, but before it could start to form he noticed the drops the blood splattered where his phone was. Next to it was a small, red handprint. Steve pushed the window open with a force he didn’t know he had, and when he realised he was still holding his phone once standing on the roof, he carelessly dropped it on the carpet in the room.

“Steve?” Clint’s face was poking out of his window, the look on his face a mixture of worry and curiosity. “What are you doing up here?”

“I, err, I’ve got to…” Steve felt weary about telling Clint about Natasha. He was probably the last person she would want to see when covered in blood and drunk.

“It’s Tasha isn’t it?” Before Steve could dissuade him, Clint was climbing out his window and onto the roof. “You know there’s no point telling me not to come with you.” He said, moving to the edge of the roof. “Plus,” he added, “You need me to get you down and track her.”

Steve knew there wasn’t enough time to argue and gave his friend a quick nod and then watched as Clint began climbing down a winding rope of vines that led to the bottom of the apartment building. As he made his way down alongside the building with Clint lowering himself below him, a thought entered Steve’s head: he wondered how many times Clint would sneak out of the building this way when he was upset and didn’t want Steve or the others to know.

“Steve, you good?” When Steve heard his name he realised that he had stopped and looked down to see Clint already stood on the ground. He had a thin, black hoodie on that the rain quickly soaked through.

“Fine!” Steve called back.

 

* * *

 

She had been waiting underneath the shelter fifteen minutes when she decided that the buses weren’t running in the middle of the night. The bleeding from her hand had subsided a little, but that kitchen towel that bound it was scarlet red and still wet, although she assumed that was because of the heavy rain. Natasha thought about spending the night here, at the bus stop, where she would be sheltered from the rain. Then she thought of the risk of someone finding her out in the open like this and told herself to keep going until she would find an ally dark, but still dry, and out of sight. Before she left, however, she noticed a white towel on the seat next to her at then stop. It wasn’t completely dry, but it was cleaner than what she had on her hand at that moment and quickly switched between the two, wrapping the material around her wound. The rain was getting heavier and Nat watched the fat drops hit the floor, creating little splashes on the already formed puddles. She counted ten drops, each bigger that the former, before she got up from the seat, pulling a hood that was on a hoodie she put on before she left the dorm over her head.

She only stopped running when she found temporary cover underneath a tree.

 

* * *

 

“Maybe you should go back and grab an umbrella or something?” Steve suggested, in a pathetic attempt to get rid of Clint.

It wasn’t that he thought Clint wouldn’t be a good help: the boy was an expert when it came to tracking. It was their second year at Shield and Steve was walking back to his dorm after a late art club meeting when he found a stray cat and, Steve being Steve, ended up taking it back to the room. This just so happened to be _completely_ against like five school rules. At first, Steve planned to tell no one, but that idea went straight out the window when he burst into his room to find Clint, Tony and Bruce in his room all playing Mario Kart. They only paused the game when they spotted the orange, scruffy-looking tabby in Steve’s small hands. After, unsurprisingly very little persuasion (minus Bruce who had to be promised to never have to ‘look after the damn fur ball’), the boys promised to keep it a secret and Clint and Tony agreed to look after the cat when Steve was at art meetings. Of course it was when it was Tony’s turn that he lost it. (He claims that ‘definitely’ locked the door, even though when Steve came home the door was very much wide open.)  Within ten minutes, Clint turned up with the ‘fur ball’ in his arms. When the boys asked how he found it so easily he simply replied with, “the thing might as well have left a trail of breadcrumbs it was that easy to track!”

Steve knew, with Clint, it wouldn’t be long before they found Natasha. Despite having only known each other for a few months, Steve liked to think of himself as Nat’s best friend here; he knew she wouldn’t want Clint of all people to see her in the state she’d inevitably in.

“My hair is soaking and getting in my eyes!” Steve called as a last resort when he saw a storming ahead and focused Clint not looking back.

“Since when did you care about your hair, Rogers?” Clint called back over his shoulder. Steve let out a huff and sped up his pace until he was able to fall in step beside his friend.

They walked silently for a while: Clint focused on the ground, almost as if Nat’s footprints were laid out there for him to follow, while Steve turned his head to look down every alley way they passed.

“Are you okay?” Steve said after a few minutes, remembering that this was the first time him and Clint had talked since he gave him his money jar.

“Why does it matter?” Clint said a little louder than he meant to.

“Hey listen, it _does_ matter, okay?” Steve wanted to put his arm out to stop him, but knew neither of them had the time to stop. In fact, this only made them both walk faster.

“No Steve, you listen to me,” Steve felt Clint slow down a little, but he still didn’t stop, “all I care about right now is finding Tasha.” Clint never lifted his head up from the ground.

“I just wanted to know if you’ve used the jar…” Steve mumbled, but still clear enough that Clint heard every word.

“No,” Clint replied, picking up his speed again, “I snuck it back into your room a week ago.”

 

* * *

 

Natasha was exhausted when she finally found an alley that had shelter and sunk to the floor, her back smacking the back of a communal bin. She could smell the rotten food, but instead of moving she hunched her back and used her not-wounded hand to pinch her wet nose. The hand was stained with blood, but at that point she was past caring having a red face that smelled like iron.

“Right back at it again, Romanov.” She said to herself, finding it hard to get out her words when she attempted to hold back from sobbing. Her mind made her remember the last time she was in a situation like this, bleeding and alone. It was the first time she ran away; she remembered it more vividly that she wanted to. She was ten and it was the first time they gave her a weapon, her first lesson. She didn’t run because she wasn’t good, she hit the middle on every target. Then they made her shoot something… _living_. When she refused, they beat her until she was bleeding. It was only then that she managed to kick them in the shin so that she could run. They found her eventually, but she was too weak to struggle when they carried her back to that place.

When she thought about this it made her pull her soaked hood over her more, so her eyes were covered. Even though she wished that no one would find her tonight, at the same time, Natasha longed for a familiar face right now.

 

* * *

 

“I think we’re close!” Clint said before he broke out into a sprint. Steve was a few centimetres behind him, due to his considerably shorter stride.

Clint became nonresponsive after he told Steve that he hadn’t used the money and the two spent the time in between in silence once more, but this time it was uncomfortable.  

When Steve saw Clint freeze in front of the opening of an alley way, he ran faster and felt himself unable to move as well when he saw what Clint was looking at.

Natasha was shivering violently, her face and hands stained with wet blood. Like she knew they were there, she slowly lifted her hood and Steve felt himself melt with sadness when he saw his best friend’s big eyes shine with tears.

“G-guys?” She choked out and tried to stand, but Clint was there to catch her when she fell back to the ground. That was when Steve rushed over to her too, grabbing both her hands, being careful to hold the wounded one gently.

Clint cupped her soaking face with his hands, the blood coming off on his fingers now too.

“You’re okay, Tasha,” he whispered, moving his head forward slowly so their foreheads touched, “we’re here to take you home.”

    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to update! I kept changing my mind on what i wanted to happen, but hopefully this should suffice. I hope you guys like it and i will try to update more regularly! As always, kudos and comments are appreciated. :) 
> 
> Instagram: @b.uckyboo


	15. I wouldn't walk away just yet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a mug of coffee, an empty park and an eventual realisation

Natasha awoke to the sound arguing. She sucked in a small breath as she tried to move out of the bed, but failed; Steve was sitting atop the covers, trapping her in. Her injured hand, now wrapped in a cotton bandage, was being held by the blond boy.

“It’s almost common knowledge that Batman would win in a fight against Superman, Steve.” Tony argued, Natasha seeing a blurry version of him sitting on her desk.

“It’s still unwise not to consider the obvious strength advantage Superman has though, Tony.” Bruce implied. Natasha didn’t even have to see him to know he was sitting at the desk on his laptop.

Natasha must have made the mistake of moving too suddenly because when she managed to fully open her eyes, her gaze was engulfed by bright blue ones widening with every second.

“How are you feeling?” Steve moved aside a little so Tony and Bruce could lean in too, but Steve’s hand was still gripping Nat’s.

“I could beat both Batman and Superman’s arses.” She managed to croak out.

“I think she’s better.” Bruce said.

The four of them sat in silence for what was probably only a few seconds, but to Natasha it felt like hours. This hadn’t been the first time that Natasha had got hurt doing something stupid, and no, it wasn’t that that made her want to hold onto this moment. It was the fact that someone _looked for her_ and _took care of her._ It was a feeling she wouldn’t mind getting used to.

“How long have I been out?” Nat moved to sit up, struggling a little at first, but no one made the wrong decision of aiding her. These boys _helped_ her, the least she could do was sit up on her own and they seemed to understand that too. Steve finally let go of her hand to look at his watch.

“It’s about 2pm, Saturday.”

“Dammit Romanov, couldn’t you have passed out for longer so we could miss some school.” Tony teased. “I am _not_ looking forward to another P.E. lesson with Mr Odin! He always favourites Thor!”

“Wait you guys have been here the whole time?” Nat didn’t bother trying to conceal her confusion.

“Of course we have.” Steve flashed her a quick wink before rising from the bed and moving over to the one kitchen counter they had in their room. He started pressing buttons on a coffee machine.

“And since when did we have a coffee machine?”

“Since I got a new one this morning.” Tony said smugly, resting an elbow on Bruce’s shoulder. “Think of it as a get well present.”

Nat was about to say something snarky, but she stopped herself when she realised something. Clint wasn’t there. It wasn’t like she was surprised as recently he only seemed to show up at the worst of times, but the way he held her in the rain last night, the way he carried her all the way back to her and Steve’s dorm room, still gave her that faint glimmer of hope. She thought about asking the boys where he was, but she knew she would get a silent response. Nat knew she was the reason, God knows why, for Clint’s sudden introverted nature. Was she pushing him away from his friends too? Would it just be better if she left now before she ruins anymore friendships? Selfishly, she rejected these thoughts at once; right now, she didn’t want to be alone.

It was when Natasha looked towards the dorm window, noticing it was slightly ajar, did she remember that in the pouring rain wasn’t the last time she had been with Clint. He had visited her in the night. She knew it wouldn’t have been hard for him to sneak in unnoticed by Steve in the top bunk, that boy could probably sleep through a bloody fire alarm. She remembered it being late and warm, despite the darkening weather outside. She remembered hearing the squeak of the window opening, droplets of water splashing on the sill. She remembered Clint holding her sleeping face, making small, gentle circles down her cheek to her neck. She remembered feeling a peck on her forehead, but what made her heart ache a little was remembering him leaving.

“If Nat’s better does that mean we can actually spend our Saturday doing something other than being stuck in this dorm room all day?”

Nat only just noticed at Tony’s question that she had managed to get out of bed and even stand. She _did_ feel better and she should. After all, it _was_ just a cut on her hand, but at the same time it wasn’t just the cut. She remembered feeling so exhausted, emotionally and physically, but more of the former. Before, she was used to bottling up her feelings. _Looks like you and Clint are pretty alike then,_ she thought. Nat trained herself to not get attached to anything to much because it would only be too soon that the thing you care about would be taken away from you. ‘ _Love is a weakness’_ , they used to say to her, ‘ _it gives your enemies the most powerful advantage._ ’ It was stupidity that broke her steel exterior. It was that small thought that she could leave her past life behind for a better one, for a normal one, where no one would look at her with that frightened look she knew too well. She was naïve to think you could just waltz into these boy’s lives, not having to change a single thing. She felt guilty, but that wasn’t the worst bit. It was worse that she couldn’t just walk away.

“– and then we could go to the park next to Brucey’s house.” Natasha managed to zone back in to catch the end of Tony’s sentence.

“Won’t the park be full of little kids?” Steve asked, setting down a coffee on the end table next to Nat’s bed. She noticed she wasn’t covered in blood anymore and instead wearing a red t-shirt paired with black skinny jeans. Someone had even laced up her boots for her. It didn’t take her long to know exactly who did it for her. She waited until she caught Steve’s eye and mouthed a ‘thank you’. He didn’t mouth anything back, but winked instead.

“We won’t need to worry about kids anymore.” Bruce reassured, closing the lid to his laptop, but Tony still kept his elbow rested on his friend’s shoulder. “Stark thought of a brilliant solution to our problem: buy the park.” The curly-haired boy’s sarcastic tone didn’t fail to make Nat smile.

“I know I know, you all love me.” Tony gloated. He stopped leaning on Bruce and opened the door that lead to the hallway. “Ready to go then?”

The other two boys began walking towards the door and for a few steps Natasha followed, then she stopped.

“There’s something I have to do first, you know, down this coffee and all.” Nat said and it only took a quick look at Steve for the blond boy to convince the others to wait outside the building.

The first thing Natasha did when the door clicked shut was open the window. She looked back at the coffee mug, thought for a moment, then reached and grabbed it. The roof wasn’t wet and slippery anymore, but instead hot from the Saturday sun. Clint’s window was closed. She knocked on the glass twice and set down the mug of coffee. It had only been a few seconds, certainly not enough time to make a swift getaway before she heard the creak of an opening window.

“What’s the coffee for?” Nat knew it was Clint who was speaking, but even when she saw him climb out his window, she still felt unsure. He sounded different, colder.

“A thank you?” Nat wasn’t really sure herself.

“You need to show up with a lot more than a cup of coffee to justify what happened last night.” He didn’t move the mug and sat on the window sill facing onto the roof. Nat hesitated for a moment before sitting on the roof next to him, the mug acting as a barrier between them.

“What do you want me to say? That I was stupid for getting too drunk? That I should have told someone I cut myself? That I shouldn’t have left the party alone? None of this wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t ignore me, Barton.” It was the first time Nat had called Clint by his last name and for some reason she bit her lip immediately after she spoke.

“I didn’t want to hurt you.” His voice was quiet. He still hadn’t managed to make eye contact with her.

“Well that’s ironic.”

“I mean it.” He raised his voice and turned to meet her eyes. Clint’s eyes were red rimmed: he had been crying all night. “Do you know how much I want to stop this engagement? I don’t even think Laura likes me, heck, I don’t even think she likes boys! Natasha you should know if I had a choice things would be different, but it’s either this engagement or losing my place at Shield.”

“There must be a way out of this.” Nat’s hand moved an inch, as if to take Clint’s, but she quickly let it drop to her side again.

“If there is I’d be glad to hear it.”

There was a beat of silence.

“The jar.”

“Nat, what do you mean?”

“Don’t act stupid, Clint. I know Steve gave you his money jar.”

“Natasha don’t _be_ stupid I’m not going to take the last thing Steve owns that’s from his parents.”

“But he _gave_ it to you.”

“You just don’t understand!” He shouted. He was standing down and knocked over the mug, forcing Nat to quickly stand as well. “I can’t take his charity, his chance at a future. I can’t do that to him.”

Nat opened her mouth to argue back, then abruptly shut it.

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Wait so he’s put it back in our room?” Steve asked Nat. They were both sitting on the park bench whilst Bruce pushed Tony on one of the swings.

“He said he didn’t want to ruin your chance at a future.” Nat looked down into her lap solemnly.

“But I have Bucky and Sam and you guys, you’re all my future. I don’t need anything else, I don’t need that money.”

“Try telling him that.”

Steve reached over and took hold of Natasha’s hand.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay.” He reassured. “We’ll get him back.”

“Has this happened before?”

“What do you mean?”

“Does he always shut himself off like this when things are shitty?” For some reason Natasha knew Steve was the best person to ask this question to.

The blond looked over at Tony and Bruce by the swings for a second before he spoke.

“You know Clint was the last one, excluding you, to join our group. Tony and Bruce had been childhood friends and in first year I shared a majority of the same classes with Bruce who eventually introduced me to Tony. For a while it was the three of us and it was good. Clint joined in second year. To this date I still don’t know what he was doing before he joined Shield, but as you’ve probably expected Stark has his theories. My personal favourite is that he used to be Katniss Everdeen’s stunt double for the Hunger Games and had to wear a wig and everything.” Steve paused for a moment, smiling at nothing. “Clint got detention a lot in his first year, a lot more than he does now. It seems to be the only place you can meet him.” Nat thought about that detention when _she_ first met Clint: he saw right through her façade, knowing straight away she was a girl. “I can’t even remember why Tony, Bruce and I got a detention that day, but that was when he _really_ talked to Clint, as opposed to Tony gossiping about him at our lunch table. You know it’s funny now that I think about it, I even remember how we decided we were friends, it just happened. I think those are the best friendships, the ones where you don’t have to have a cliché icebreaker to kick start a conversation, those are the friendships that last. I don’t think any of us are at ease with the way Clint has been acting. I mean, the only other time he was like this was when he had to…” Steve tried to look Nat in the eye, but he just couldn’t. “…when he had to propose to Laura, Tony’s sister. He wasn’t upset, no, he was angry. Not for himself though, for Laura. It wasn’t that Laura and Clint didn’t like each other, it was just the fact that they were pretty much complete strangers. (Tony never really talked about her; they didn’t get along that well.) It was that and the fact that he knew Laura hated this engagement as much as Clint did. He didn’t speak to anyone for a solid week, especially avoiding Tony. He would still sit with us at lunch and come with us when we hung out, but he never spoke unless one of us actively asked him something.”

“If he just didn’t talk to you guys back then, then why is he so much worse now? He’s just being reminded of the arranged engagement, that’s it, right? What else has changed?” Nat was leaning forward now, pulling her baseball cap down so that it covered her eyes. This allowed Steve to finally look over to her like she was tortoise trying to win a race.

“You.”

“What? What about me?” She recoiled a little in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Nat you’ve got to be joking. You’re what’s changed for him. Yeah he was pretty pissed about the engagement back then, but that was because it didn’t seem fair on Laura. Now he’s seeing how unfair it is on himself as well.”  

Nat went quiet, not because she didn’t know _what_ to say, but because she didn’t know _how_.

“He’s got it bad for you, Nat, and if I were you, I wouldn’t walk away just yet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm soooo sorry I haven't updated this fic in ages and I know this chapter isn't that progressive, but TRUST ME, it's the 'calm before the storm' if you know what I mean ;););) Anyways I hope you like it and as always kudos and comments are much appreciated.


	16. An idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cinema, maths homework and a master plan.

“When did you say you passed your test?” Natasha asked suspiciously, holding onto the inside door handle of Tony’s cherry-red Ferrari. She couldn’t remember stopping at any red lights throughout the whole trip to the cinema.

“Yesterday,” Tony replied, taking one hand off the wheel to dangle it out of the window. “Relax Romanov, you could let a monkey, or even Rogers, drive this thing and you’ll be safer than wearing bubble wrap.”

Nat couldn’t deny that the car was expensive enough to most likely drive itself, it was Tony’s recklessness that worried her. Reckless driving meant police and she couldn’t risk getting recognised, even if the last time she had dealings with them was years ago.

As if Tony could see the anxiety painted on her face – much to Nat’s discomfort at the thought of his eyes not being on the road – she felt the car slow down.

“You know I’m surprised you asked me to go to the movies with you today.” Tony said and when Nat looked over she let out a sigh of relief to find his eyes fixed ahead. She relaxed her hands and reached to remove her baseball cap from her head, ruffling her fiery locks with her fingers. She decided it was safe enough to not be Nate, and besides, Tony probably wouldn’t mind the idea of a rumour going round that he had a mysterious girl in his car.

“Just felt like we hadn’t really hung out that much.” That wasn’t exactly the reason Natasha wanted to go out with Tony today; he was the only person that she could be with and forget everything that was going on. It wasn’t like Tony didn’t know – Bruce probably informed him daily on the progress of Nat and Clint’s situation – but she felt as if she didn’t have any pressure to talk about her problems and how she’s feeling when she’s with Tony.

“Well let’s say I’m definitely not surprised that you wanted to see The Conjuring 2 anyways.” Nat smiled a little as she saw Tony’s eyes widen in exaggerated fear at the idea of watching a scary movie. However, the best part about hanging out with Tony is that he loves talking about himself and his own problems.

“Hey Tony?” Nat kept her eyes fixed ahead, but found herself relaxing in her seat.

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Sure, but before you ask, yes, these teeth are naturally white.” She didn’t even need to look over to know he was winking and pulling that toothy grin of his.

“Are you and Loki a couple?”  Nat could feel her voice shaking slightly as she asked.

There was a few seconds silence, as if for once Tony was actually thinking about what to say before opening his mouth.

“No, well kind of, but not really. We kissed. Once. It was at Steve’s 16th party, but I had a pretty big argument with my dad that day so I wasn’t really in the mood to drink. Loki was and still is pretty quiet, but once you get a few vodka and cokes in him he’s different. Or maybe, he’s more himself. By then, I had had a feeling that he knew I had a crush on him since more than once he had caught me staring at him in maths. But that party was the first and the last time he spoke to me, and the best part was he wasn’t really forward or anything. We just started talking a little, well, by a little I mean the whole night. We both were sitting on the roof having a smoke and he turned round and looked at me in the eyes and I looked into his. His eyes were the colour of precious jewels, lightly dusted with specks of juniper.” He stopped talking for a moment, his face looking at if he was trying to remember every minute detail. “His hair wasn’t neat at all and much darker. He only leaned in a little before he asked if he could kiss me, but I gave him an answer by leaning in closer. It was over a year ago, but I can still remember the way his hair felt when I ran my fingers through it and the way he tasted like cheap alcohol and chewing gum. We both just held each other’s faces the whole time and it was amazing. He was really gentle and soft and… Well after that night we haven’t spoken at all. I’ve gone back to staring and I guess I’m just hoping he looks at me every now and then. I don’t think he knows that I wasn’t drunk and maybe he’s scared that I’ll just reject him, but I wouldn’t, _never_.”

It was no longer out of choice that Nat wasn’t looking at Tony, but because she simply couldn’t. She knew he must have had a soft side, but she wasn’t expecting him to open up that much. It _did_ make her feel better though.

“Why don’t you approach him?” She asked.

“Because I don’t want to lose him. He’s shy, Romanov. What if, I don’t know, say something stupid and he gets embarrassed and runs away? Then I would have completely blown it.” Nat saw him grip the steering wheel a little tighter.

She thought carefully for a few moments about what she wanted to say.

“I want to help you.”

“What?”

“You heard me. I’m sick of always thinking about Clint all the time, it’s driving me insane. Let me help you, I need a distraction.” Nat then sat there, waiting for Tony to protest, but he didn’t.

“Okay” was all he said.

 

* * *

 

 

“…so then you’ll get the square-root of x equals 9, so x equals 3.” Bruce said. Himself and Steve had finally managed to lure Clint out of his room with the promise of maths help and no Natasha. Bruce and Clint were sitting at Steve’s desk, whilst the blond was playing Mario kart with Bucky on his bunk.

“Did you just blue shell me?” Steve asked accusingly at Bucky after Steve paused the game.

“Stevie, c’mon…” Bucky abandoned his controller and began wrapping his hands around his boyfriend’s waist.

“I feel betrayed!” He raised his chin in mock distaste, but didn’t push Bucky away.

“I’m sorry…”

“That’s better!” Steve lowered his head, kissing Bucky on the cheek.

“…that you’re so bad!” At that, Steve pushed Bucky away, squatting him on the arm.

“You jerk!” Steve began trying to crawl away from him on the bed, but Bucky easily grabbed Steve’s legs and pulled him closer. The brunette snaked his hands around Steve’s narrow waist again, whispering in his ear.

“You little punk.”

It was only when they both heard Clint cough that they moved away a little, but their hands were still wrapped around each other.

“ _Some_ , of us are trying to pass maths here!” Clint said, throwing a pencil at the love sick couple.

“It’s actually really simple, Clint.” Bruce reassured, “you’re going to be fine.”

“Cheers Bruce.” Clint smiled, playfully punching him in the arm.

It had been a while, Bruce thought, since he had seen Clint smile, ever since Natasha. He would never say it, but he almost resented her in the tiniest way. Everything was simpler before Nat. Yes, Clint was still engaged to Tony’s sister, but he could deal with it if it meant staying at Shield. Bruce felt a speck of guilt inside him as he wished that Natasha could go out more often. He missed Clint, everybody missed Clint.

There was no time for Clint to escape when everyone heard the door handle turn and Tony and Natasha stepped in. Bruce could tell Tony was about to say something and immediately gave his friend a look that meant ‘ _shut the hell up’_. Natasha could feel frustration and anger boiling inside her when she made herself look at him, at Clint. He couldn’t even face her.

“I’m going to go.” He mumbled, just loud enough to hear. He stood abruptly, making his way to the door: Tony moved aside, but Nat stayed exactly where she was. She felt time slow as he passed her, and for a second she swore she felt his hand brush past hers…

As soon as he left she closed the door. At this point, Bucky and Steve had moved away from each other, but were still lacing fingers.

“Do you want me to go?” Bucky whispered.

“Not yet.” Steve replied, squeezing Bucky’s hand.

Tony clapped his hands before he spoke, as if to physically break the silence. “Right! So, my wonderful friend Natasha over here has kindly offered to be my wing woman. I know Brucey, you’re jealous, but I’m sure Betty will realise you exist one day!”

Bruce narrowed his eyes at Tony as he packed away his school work.

“Where are you going with this Stark?” Steve asked.

“Nat’s going to talk to Loki for me!” Tony swung his arm around Nat’s shoulders and squeezed her tightly, his other hand fist bumping the air.

“Hey! How come she gets to talk to Loki and not me? I’ve been asking you for months!” Steve protested, leaning forwards, his hands now dangling over the edge of the top bunk; he could feel Bucky’s hands around his waist and smiled.

“Because our lovely friend Natasha won’t scare him away with showing him an excessive amount of pictures of yours truly!” Tony replied, slinging his arm around Nat’s shoulder, who was trying to plaster on a realistic smile; she could shake off the feeling of Clint’s hand brushing hers.

“Okay, okay” Nat began, trying to collect her thoughts, “I’m not agreeing to anything until I know what Loki and…Clint’s deal is.”

After Nat spoke there was a moment of uncomfortable silence; everyone was trying to look anywhere but at Natasha. Then each of them ended up looking at Tony.

“Okay,” Tony began, sitting down at Steve’s desk chair. The others formed a circle around Stark as he began to speak. “So when Clint was younger, like in year seven, he was kind of bullied by none other than our favourite German thug, Grant Ward and his group.”

At that Natasha glanced over at Steve, remembering Grant tormenting her friend because of his sexuality. By this point, Steve and Bucky had moved to the bottom bunk and were sitting beside each other; she noticed Steve was trying to stay neutral, but squeezed Bucky’s hand tighter when he could feel his boyfriend tense.

“At this point, Loki was hanging around with Grant” Tony carried on with an uneasy tone, “but he never joined in the bullying, stayed well behind the fighting and stuff.  I remember Loki told me that he never really liked Grant, but, at the time, he minded being alone and Grant’s mother was a friend of Loki’s. Grant was pretty much the only person Loki knew, unfortunately. Anyways, so when Grant was being a dick, Clint always said that he could see Loki in the background, could see that he was doing nothing. Now, you may not believe me, but Clint isn’t usually the kind of person to get really angry or hold a grudge for a long time over anything. However, when Loki finally had the sense to leave Grant, he tried apologising to Clint, but Clint wasn’t having it. He was mad that Loki never did anything, he never even told Grant and the others to stop. Basically, Clint’s convinced that Loki’s a coward and disloyal.” Tony found himself looking at the ground and fiddling with his thumbs when he was finished.

“And obviously I’m guessing that’s not how you feel about him.” Nat said.

“No! Of course not. Loki was scared, he told me himself. Any smart year seven wouldn’t pick a fight with anyone, let alone Grant Ward.”

“Well that’s unless he’s picking on Britain’s greatest midget.” Bruce remarked, gesturing towards Steve who was smirking in response.

“I don’t know.” Nat couldn’t shake the feeling that talking to Loki would only make her situation between herself and Clint worse, so “I’ll think about it, okay?” was all she said.

 

* * *

 

 

“Can you shut the window?” Nat asked from the bathroom as Steve was changing into his pyjamas. Steve did as Nat requested.

When she walked into the room Steve tried to stifle a laugh or even stop himself from staring at her face. He failed to do both of these things.

“Hey! You promised not to laugh!” Natasha yelled, rushing back into the mirror to check the eyeliner she had done. After dressing like a boy for a while now, she missed doing girly things, like makeup, and decided to try her hand at eyeliner again, something she used to be a master at.

“Nat you can come back they look fine!” Steve called back, ushering the red head back into the room.

“Then why did you laugh?!” Natasha shoved him playfully.

“It’s just weird seeing you look so…feminine.” She noticed he was looking at her sincerely now. “You look really nice, Nat.”

“You softy!” She cried, launching towards him into a hug. “But I really need your opinion on this whole Loki thing.”

Steve pulled away slowly, the two of them moving to sit on Nat’s bottom bunk.

“I think you should do it.” Steve said plainly.

“What?” Nat exclaimed, surprised that Steve didn’t discourage her. “But what if, because of this, Clint _never_ talks to me again?” She didn’t want to admit it – and Steve would probably be the only person she would consider telling – but she was almost certain she needed Clint more than he needed her. That was something that terrified her.

“Nat, first, I can guarantee he will talk to you again,” Steve exhaled with a tone of slight annoyance. “And don’t ask me how I know that.” He added when he saw her open her mouth as if to speak. “Secondly, ask yourself what _you_ want to do.”

“I want to help Tony of course.” To Natasha, that was probably the easiest thing to say during this whole conversation.

“Then help him! For God’s sake Natasha! Never, and I mean _never_ , let _anyone_ stop you from doing something you want to do. Especially if that thing will make people you care about happy. I know how much you care about Clint, you don’t have to tell me that, but he doesn’t lov…, I mean like you because you only do things that you know will make him happy. You wouldn’t be _you_ that way. You’ve got to trust me on this, okay? Do this, not just for Tony or even for me, but for you.”

 

* * *

 

 

“So when are you going to talk to him?” Nat heard Steve whisper in her ear as Miss Hill was explaining to the class the cover work set for the lesson.

“…I’ll be back by the end of the lesson to check you have completed the work.” The teacher finished before swiftly gathering her laptop and exiting the room, her hand pressed to the Bluetooth headset she was wearing.

As soon as the classroom door clicked shut, the students in the room began swapping seats so all the groups were together, engrossed in their own conversations. Nat was seated next to Steve, the two of them sharing a table with a new addition: Pietro. Across the room, the three of them saw Loki sitting alone, his straightened onyx hair covering one green eye.

“I still don’t understand the point in this?” Pietro said in a confused tone. Natasha had asked him how Wanda was getting on, but soon regretted the mention when his expression darkened. The boy explained that she slept a lot and how he hated waking her so she could hide when there were room inspections. There was a moment when he started to explain Wanda’s nightmares that forced him to wake her and hold her until she calmed down, but the sudden softness in his voice stopped him from continuing.

“Okay I’m going.” Nat announced to the boys, standing up from her chair and ambling over to Loki, seating herself opposite the unsuspecting teen.

“What do you want?” Loki asked bitterly, his eyes still cast downward.

“Um, hey!” All of Nat’s confidence seemed to have escaped her. “I’m Nate, Tony’s friend.” She felt encouraged slightly when she saw Loki’s eyes lift at the mention of Tony.

“Okay,” was all he said in reply.

“I was wondering…” Nat paused for a moment, realising she couldn’t be too forceful, “…if you could help me with some maths homework? You always seem to finish your work pretty quick.”

He looked hesitant for a moment, panicking Nat as she tried to think of another excuse to get some time alone with Loki.

“Sure.” He replied quickly, looking at her in the eye for a second, before immediately dropping his head again.

 

* * *

 

 

When Natasha unlocked the door to her room, she held back as much as she could to not shout at Steve who was still in his boxers on his top bunk.

“Stephen.” She said as calmly as she could, climbing the ladder to Steve’s bed before throwing the duvet off him. “Get. Up.”

“Mmm?” Steve mumbled, rubbing his eyes before checking the time on his phone: 9:30am. “Come on Nat!” He moaned, “it’s a Saturday! That means I only function efficiently after 11.”

“Well tough.” Natasha climbed back down from the bed before rushing to the mirror to check her hair was sufficiently tucked into her hat.

When she walked back into the room, a sleepy Steve had finally crawled out of bed and put on trousers.

“You need to get out the room.” She ordered.

“What?”

“I need to get alone time with Loki if I’m going to convince him to speak to Tony!” Nat insisted whilst clearing a space on her desk, moving Steve’s desk chair next to hers. “Call Bucky and get him to take you out or something.” She suggested.

“Bucky’s got lesson planning to do for year sevens.” Steve said. “I’ll drop by Tony’s since Bruce will inevitably be there too.”

Nat was about to limit her send off to Steve with a nod, but then she had a thought.

“What if Clint’s there?” She asked.

“You know I won’t mention a thing,” Steve reassured, lacing his trainers and grabbing his door keys. “And Tony would have to be brain dead to say anything.” He planted a quick kiss on her cheek before closing the door.

Natasha had spent almost the entirety of Friday night planning how she was going to subtly mention Tony as many times as she could. Just when she was trying to remember if Tony was seven or eight years old when made £1000 from his lemonade business, she heard a soft knock on the door.

When it opened it was Loki, dressed down in green hoodie and skin tight black jeans. He held a textbook in his hand and a pencil case in the other.

“You ready?” Natasha tried to supress a toothy grin when she noticed the almost musical tone in Loki’s voice.

She led him to the desk, showing him the questions she was stuck on for the most recent maths homework set. As if overcome with excitement of the fact that Loki actually showed up, Nat completely forgot to mention Tony at all. It was only when Loki closed the textbook after finishing going through the last question that the Stark boy was mentioned.

“You do know that I know you don’t need help with maths, right?” The boy said knowingly.

“What do you mean?” Natasha tried to sound innocent, but she could feel the vibrant colour form on her cheeks.

“You wanted to talk about him,” he said, “about…Tony.”

“Fine, yeah.” Nat relented. “I know you only just met me, but you can trust me. If there’s anything you tell me that you don’t want repeated, then I won’t.”

“No.”

“What?”

“I want you to tell him everything.” By this point Loki was looking at her in the eye.

“Okay.” She said slowly. “So how do you feel about him?”

“I like him.” He began. “There’s no point lying about it or beating round the bush. The fact is, I know he doesn’t like me, or at least he _thinks_ he likes me. Before that party we had never spoken, and I’m pretty certain he was intoxicated before he bothered to even say hi. So yeah, that’s why I haven’t talked to him. I don’t really feel like embarrassing myself.”

Natasha knew Loki was expecting her to be overly compassionate, reassuring him that ‘it’s not like that’, but it was at this point that she understood what Steve had been going through with her all along.

“Just do one thing for me,” she said, “talk to him. I’ll make sure you guys are alone and if it doesn’t work out then you’re allowed to avoid me and Tony for as long as you like.” Nat knew this promise could be risky, but she had a sudden urge of confidence when she spoke.  

“Deal.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Shit, shit, shit. Are you sure he _actually_ agreed to talk to me?” Tony said, pacing around his dorm room. It was Saturday evening and only Natasha was allowed to come in before Loki turned up.

“Yes Tony, I’m sure.” She giggled, enjoying the state the Stark boy was in. “But I swear if you make up some stupid lie to sound cool I _will_ hunt you down.” She threatened, making Tony hastily nod in understanding. Then he did something Nat definitely wasn’t expecting: he hugged her. It was a long hug, giving Nat enough time to move past her shock and hug him back.

“Thank you.” He whispered and she hugged him tighter. There was a knock. The pair broke apart instantly, Nat straightening out Tony’s t-shirt before opening the door.

“I’ll leave you guys to it.”

 

* * *

 

“Don’t you think we should just wait outside their door?” Steve suggested eagerly. By this point, Tony and Loki had been talking in Tony’s room for an hour. When Natasha left the room, both Steve and Bruce were waiting for her, expecting to be allowed to have their ears pressed to the door for the whole time, but Nat didn’t let them, much to especially Steve’s disappointment.

“No Steve, we have to let them get on with it!” Natasha still found it hard to conceal the excitement on her face. Both herself and Steve were in their pyjamas, sitting cross-legged on Natasha’s bed.

“What are you thinking?” Nat had a love-hate relationship with the way Steve could read her so easily. “I know that look, that’s your ‘I have a master plan’ look.”

“Okay, okay,” Nat gave in, “so I may or may not have an idea of how to get Clint out of his engagement.”

“What?!” Steve squealed, taken aback.

“I’ve been mulling it over, okay? Seeing how easy it was to get Tony and Loki to talk inspired me!” She said theatrically. “I have to stop being shy and expecting this problem to just go away on its own.”

“Well? Don’t leave a brother in suspense! What is it?!” Steve leaned forward now, squeezing Nat’s hands tight.

“We’re going to steal the money Clint needs to pay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ultimately decided not to add Tony and Loki's conversation in this chapter since I didn't want the attention to be too drawn to them and instead added that last little bit at the end! If anyone would be interested, I can post Tony and Loki's conversation with anyone would be interested to read it on a separate work. Also, I didn't actually plan this chapter to be as long as it is, but I just kept writing until I found a good stopping place! As always, kudos and comments are much appreciated! Thank you to everyone who is still reading!! :)


End file.
